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Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
could turn themselves into Ebola “suicide bombers”
against the Western world, terrorism experts have warned.
ISIS or other terrorist groups could simply dispatch
individuals to Ebola-infected areas in West Africa where
they would intentionally infect themselves and then
spread the virus through the world’s air transportation
network.
Capt. Al Shimkus, a professor of national security affairs
at the U.S. Naval War College, said the scenario was
plausible.
“The individual exposed to the Ebola virus would be the
carrier,” Shimkus told Forbes.
“In the context of terrorist activity, it doesn’t take much
sophistication to go to that next step to use a human
being as a carrier,” he added.
Professor Anthony Glees, director at Buckingham
University’s Center for Security and Intelligence Studies,
also warned that terrorists may consider such a plan.
“In some ways it’s a plausible theory – IS [ISIS] fighters
believe in suicide and this is a potential job for a suicide
mission. They are sufficiently murderous and well-
informed to consider it, and they know that we’ve been
remiss in the UK,” Glees told Forbes.
Amanda Teckman, who authored a paper on Ebola’s
bioterrorist threat in East Africa, told Forbes : “the threat
of an Ebola bioterrorist attack in East Africa is a global
health and security concern, and should not be
ignored.”
ISIS has already contemplated the use of biological
weaponry, according to recent media reports.
Documents found on a laptop seized from ISIS militants
in Syria show instructions on how to “develop biological
weapons and how to weaponize the bubonic plague from
infected animals,” according to a Foreign Policy report .
The laptop reportedly belonged to a Tunisian militant
named Mohammad S., who studied chemistry and
physics in his country’s northeast.
“The advantage of biological weapons is that they do
not cost a lot of money, while the human casualties can
be huge,” according to one document. “When the microbe
is injected in small mice, the symptoms of the disease
should start to appear within 24 hours.”
The Al Arabiya
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