Ohio Attacker ‘Loved America’, Says Friend

ISIS called Somali attacker Abdul Razak Artan a “soldier of the Islamic State”.

A message board covered in community reactions stands in the main hall following an attack at Ohio University campus. (Photo: AP)

Terrorist organisation ISIS said the Ohio attacker who injured 11 people at the Ohio State University campus was a “soldier of the Islamic State”.

The group had recently released a video calling on attacks on the West and demonstrated how to kill people with knives, Xinhua news agency reported.

It is unclear if the group had any ties with the attacker, identified by local police as Abdul Razak Artan, an 18-year-old OSU student who moved to the United States from Somalia.

Artan was not known to FBI counter-terrorism authorities before Monday's rampage, which ended with him being shot to death by police and 11 people injured.

Unlike him, those involved in the several other recent attacks in New York City; Orlando, Florida; and Garland, Texas, were blamed for the violence had previously come to the attention of federal agents.

Law enforcement officials have not identified a motive for the Ohio State violence, as they poured into Artan’s digital devices or been able to draw any connection to ISIS, despite their claim of him being affiliated to the militant group.

And Facebook posts, that were apparently written shortly before the attack and came to light afterward, show that Artan nursed grievances against the US.

He railed against the US intervention in Muslim lands and warned, “If you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks, then make peace” with the Islamic State group. “America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that,” he wrote, using the Arabic term for the world’s Muslim community. He also warned that other Muslims are in sleeper cells, “waiting for a signal. I am warning you Oh America!”

However, his friend who had met him only two weeks before the attack, said he “loved america”. His neighbour too expressed shock over the occurrence of such an incident because he was a “very nice boy”.

(With inputs from AP , IANS and NBC News)