The Somali-born student terrorist who attacked Ohio State University, where he had started classes just two months ago, was not a “soldier of Islamic State” as the ISIS terrorist group tried to claim this week — but he was, law enforcement sources say, “inspired” by propaganda from the terrorist organization.
Facebook posts by Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, also referenced Yemeni American radical Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the deceased leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (AQAP)
“By Allah, we will not let you sleep unless you give peace to the Muslims,” he wrote in his post. “You will not celebrate or enjoy any holiday.”
It is not known when, where or how Artan’s self-radicalization began. He bought knives on the day of the attack, a law enforcement official told CNN, and used a butcher’s knife during his attack. Eleven people were injured as a result; three remained hospitalized on Tuesday.
OSU Police Officer Alan Horujko stopped the rampage, firing three bullets at Artan when he failed to comply with orders to stop his assault and drop the weapon.
But his family arrived as refugees in the United States in 2014 from Pakistan after leaving Somalia in 2007, with the authority of the radical Islamist Al Shaba’ab terrorist group on the rise in the African nation. All of Artan’s family are currently legal permanent residents in the United States — as was the terrorist himself — and all hold green cards.
The ram-and-stab style of his assault on a group of people outside Watts Hall at the campus reflected a classic Middle Eastern terrorist attack, one that has been frequently carried out in Israel by Palestinian Authority terrorists over the past year.
FBI investigators are speaking with Artan’s family members, friends and other associates as they try to determine what was behind the attack. They are searching his computer and cell phone as well, CNN reported.