Authorities in Bosnia are investigating an Islamist website that supports ISIS, calls for holy war in the Balkans – and praises the mass killings that recently rocked Paris.
Bosnian authorities are investigating an Islamist website, Vijesti Ummeta, which uses a wordpress platform to publishing articles in support of ISIS and glorifying the recent mass killing in Paris.
It also republishes propaganda material made by the Islamic State, ISIS, translated into the Bosnian language.
“SIPA is constantly monitoring all social networks and the websites that could incite terrorism, including Vijesti Ummeta,” Kristina Jozic, the spokesperson of the State Investigation and Protection Agency told BIRN on Thursday.
Jozic said the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also investigating the website, although the Prosecution refused to issue any comment.
The website was known to the authorities in the past. It moved to its present address after a previous one, Sablja Istine (Saber of Truth), was forced to close last summer. It also had a twitter profile, which has been removed.
Recently, Vijesti Ummeta welcomed the terrorist attacks in Paris, which killed more than 120 people on November 13, as great news. The attack was “a joyful news for all true Muslims”, the website wrote.
“You infidels and all of you who fight against Muslims, be aware that you won’t be safe anywhere in this land, either in your homes or in your fortresses. Revenge will come soon,” Vijesti Ummeta said.
The website also praised the actions of Enes Omeragic from Sarajevo, who killed two Bosnian soldiers before committing suicide on November 18.
“This is just the beginning, Bosnia; this is just the beginning, Europe”, Vijesti Ummeta warned, in a post that appears to have been eventually removed.
The website also provides translations of the magazine Dabiq, the official publication of ISIS, together with other Bosnian versions of propaganda videos.
On Wednesday, Vijesti Ummeta published a short video in Bosnian produced by the AlHayat Media Center.
The video praised the achievements of ISIS’s so-called Caliphate, depicted as a community of true believers that stands against the corrupt democracies of the West. The video also challenged the anti-ISIS coalition to continue its attacks.
Despite investigations, it is not clear who stands behind the website. “The website is written in a mixture of Serbian and Bosnian language; it seems very likely that its contributors could be from the Sandzak region and Bosnia,” Vlado Azinovic, a Bosnian expert on terrorism told the local television N1 after the attack in Paris.
Sandzak is a mainly Muslim region in the southwest of Serbia.
“We’re currently creating a blacklist of websites which incite terrorism or hatred,” Admir Malagic, spokesperson of the Ministry of Security of Bosnia, told the news agency Srna.
“These websites are often located outside our country and this complicates the procedure for blocking them. We are working on the topic, together with the Regulatory Agency for Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Malagic said.
Rodolfo Toe
Source: Balkan Insight
