Widows of ISIL terrorists attempt to strike back

WASHINGTON — U.S. and British drone strikes have killed their Islamic State husbands. Now, the widows of Junaid Hussein and Abu Abbas al Lubnani appear to be trying to retaliate against U.S. military personnel, by distributing alleged personal information about them.

Hussain was one of the architects of the Islamic State’s cyber activities and Lubnani was involved in recruiting girls to come to Syria.

On Monday, former British punk rocker Sally Jones, widow of Hussein, and Lubnani’s widow, Umm Muthanna, connected on Twitter and commiserated over the deaths of their husbands.

After opening up a Twitter account, which has been since shut down, Jones, reportedly back in Britain, engaged with Muthanna, who is still in Syria. Muthanna, who referred to Jones as “sister,” indicated they had recently spent time together in person.

“So glad I got to see you before my idda,” said Muthanna, referring to the Muslim grieving period after a spouse dies.

“Me too,” said Jones, who then began a series of tweets by posting something she called “Kill list — session two.”

The list included the names of U.S. military personnel. She also posted several documents, addresses and photographs of people alleged to be U.S. military personnel. Jones said she did it to coincide with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and to honor her husband.

Muthanna posted pictures of Lubnani and images of locations in ISIL-controlled territory, calling life in the Islamic State “a delight.”

After the posting online, Jones then tweeted, “The US is just angry at me because the FBI still can’tremove the 2nd Military Kill List my husband’s brothers made on 9/11 Fisabillilah”

“The FBI are no match for the Islamic state Hack Div, the 2nd US Military Kill list has been up since 9/11 … i know it hurts America 🙁 l0l,” wrote Jones.

Late Monday afternoon, after posting the list, Jones engaged in a long-running argument with several evidently anti-ISIL tweeters before her account was suspended.

There is no evidence that the information posted is accurate. U.S. military officials indicated recently that ISIL had previously posted a “hit list” containing information that was inaccurate.

J.J. Green

JJ Green is WTOP's National Security Correspondent. He reports daily on security, intelligence, foreign policy, terrorism and cyber developments, and provides regular on-air and online analysis. He is also the host of two podcasts: Target USA and Colors: A Dialogue on Race in America.

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