BEIRUT – Screams, carnage – and a black banner.
The attacker in the deadly truck-ramming attack on revelers in New Orleans' French Quarter during New Year's Day was carrying a black Islamic State (IS) flag. says the FBI.
Law enforcement authorities believe the attacker acted alone and killed at least 15 people in a terrorist attack. Authorities are also trying to determine what inspiration he may have drawn from the Sunni Muslim extremist group that burst into the world's consciousness more than a decade ago.
By 2014, the Islamic State had taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria. Because of the group's harsh interpretation of Islam, thousands in the region, including minorities such as Yazidis, have been persecuted, sexually enslaved and killed. The Islamic State's deadly reach extended across Europe and beyond, with IS militants carrying out brazen bombings and shootings in capitals including Paris and Brussels.
A U.S.-led military coalition dismantled the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate more than five years ago. But losses of territory and the death of their leader did not stop the attacks of their numerous offshoots or “loners” who adopted their ideology.
Here's a look at the Islamic State, the attacks it is or has been involved in over the years, and the ongoing threat it poses.
How did the Islamic State come about?
It began as a renamed al-Qaeda faction led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a militant Iraqi cleric and insurgent leader who became a self-proclaimed caliph. Those who lived under his rule in much of Iraq and Syria – especially members of other religions or other sects of Islam – faced terrible punishments: beheading, crucifixion, torture. At the same time, the group also took Western hostages and killed several, including US journalist James Foley, who was beheaded in 2014, and Arizona aid worker Kayla Mueller, whose death was confirmed in 2015.
A U.S.-led military coalition liberated Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, from the group's control in 2017 and tracked its remnants to eastern Syria. In 2019, as U.S. forces were on the verge of capturing him, al-Baghdadi killed himself in a suicide explosion that also killed two children. Then-President Donald Trump declared the caliphate “obliterated.”
What were some of the Islamic State's most notorious attacks in Europe?
In November 2015, coordinated attacks by its activists in Paris on a concert hall and outside a stadium killed 130 people, and just four months later, bombings at airports and public transport in Brussels killed 32 people.
The group was believed to have incited attacks including the truck rampage in the French Riviera city of Nice in 2016, which killed at least 80 people and injured hundreds more on Bastille Day, and a ramming attack on a London woman Bridge in 2017 that killed two people and injured dozens more.
Have there been attacks in the United States inspired by the Islamic State?
In a 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, 14 people were killed by a couple hailed as “supporters” of the Islamic State. In 2016, a gunman who had pledged allegiance to al-Baghdadi shot and killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
What connects New Orleans suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar to the Islamic State?
In addition to the black banner recovered from his truck, President Biden said the Army veteran had posted videos “indicating he was inspired by the group” before the attack, according to President Biden. The investigation is ongoing.
What is the current status of the Islamic State?
In the years since its last bastion in eastern Syria was overrun, the Islamic State has struggled to carry out large-scale operations, with its shrunken forces on the Iraq-Syria border mostly carrying out gang-style attacks and kidnappings
How about anywhere else in the world?
The Islamic State has had greater success with its decentralized network of affiliates that have sprung up across Africa and parts of Asia.
One particularly powerful ally is the Islamic State of Khorasan – or ISIS-K – which has carried out increasingly daring attacks over the past year, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March that killed more than 140 people and a double bombing during a funeral procession in Iran, in which around 100 people were killed.
ISIS-K has also been linked to the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 US soldiers and about 170 Afghans as the US withdrew from Afghanistan.
How did the fall of the Syrian dictatorship affect the group?
The fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria has sparked fears of a resurgence of the Islamic State at home, with some believing its resurgence is already underway. Despite continued pressure from the U.S. coalition and local forces, a July U.S. Central Command report said the Islamic State carried out more attacks in Iraq and Syria in the first six months of 2024 than in all of 2023 .
A September statement from U.S. Central Command warned that a particular focus of the group was the release of the approximately 9,000 ISIS prisoners held in more than 20 detention centers across Syria – what a U.S. official described as an army in wait the Islamic State.
“If large numbers of these ISIS fighters were to escape, it would pose an extreme danger to the region and beyond,” Centcom Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said at the time.
What are the recent attacks by Islamic State affiliates?
This week, the Islamic State in Somalia said it carried out an attack involving 12 militants and two booby-trapped vehicles that killed more than 20 military personnel. According to experts, it was the largest attack by this IS branch to date. In March, an Islamic State affiliate operating in Niger, West Africa, claimed responsibility for an attack that it said killed 30 soldiers.
Staff writer Bulos reported from Beirut and staff writer King reported from Washington.