Terrorist Attack at Ohio State [Updated]

This morning, a Somali-born man named Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove his car over a curb and on to a sidewalk at Ohio State University, injuring a number of pedestrians, one critically. He then jumped out of his car and began stabbing passers-by with a butcher knife. The Associated Press reports:

A Somali-born Ohio State University student plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus and then got out and began stabbing people with a butcher knife Monday before he was shot to death by an officer. Police said they are investigating whether it was a terrorist attack.

I’m not sure that a lot of further investigation is necessary.

The attacker was identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan. He was born in Somalia and was a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to a U.S. official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity. …

Ohio State University police Chief Craig Stone said the assailant deliberately drove his small gray Honda over a curb outside an engineering classroom building and then began knifing people. A campus officer nearby because of a gas leak arrived on the scene and shot the driver in less than a minute, Stone said.

It sounds like the officer was well trained for this type of emergency.

In recent months, federal law enforcement officials have raised concerns about online extremist propaganda that encourages knife and car attacks, which are easier to pull off than bombings.

Many knife and car attacks have been carried out in Israel, and a smaller number in Europe. They are indeed hard to stop; the most practical measure is to minimize the number of residents with a propensity to perpetrate such attacks.

Neighbors say Artan was always polite and attended daily prayer services at a mosque on the city’s west side.

Leaders of Muslim organizations and mosques in the Columbus area condemned the attacks while cautioning people against jumping to conclusions or blaming a religion or an ethnicity.

That mantra is getting a little tiresome, isn’t it? What does it mean to “blame a religion or an ethnicity”? Are we supposed to pretend not to notice that Islamic terrorism is a big problem? Is the intent to rule out of order any discussion of how repeated terrorist attacks should impact the U.S.’s immigration policies?

I think the answer to both of those questions is Yes.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, Abdul Razak Ali Artan’s Facebook page confirms that he was a jihadi:

Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan posted on Facebook that he was “sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers being killed and tortured” shortly before he went on a slashing rampage at the Ohio State University that left 11 injured.

Authorities are currently investigating the posts, allegedly made by Artan, which mention radical cleric Anwar Awlaki and accuse America of “interfering” with other nations.

“I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured EVERYWHERE,” it stated. “I can’t take it anymore.

“America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah … [if] you want us Muslims to stop carrying lone wolf attacks.

“We are not weak, remember that,” the post said….

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