One of al Qaeda’s two main websites, Shamukh al-Islam went dark on March 23 and reappeared online on Monday April 2. According to information on the website “unknown hands had taken the forum down as part of “a lowly, cheap and failed campaign.”
“The enemies of Allah amongst those who claim freedom didn’t spare any effort to harm our blessed media after they became bothered by its rapid development, its unique performance, its exposure of the machinery of falsehood, lies, and deceit, and its dissemination of the truth.”
“They didn’t know that behind them are hidden, pure hands that God preserved, helped, and dedicated, and these prepared not one solution but many, and instead of one network, tens of networks and in the place of one man a thousand men, praise and bounty be to Allah,” the SITE translation said.
The outage hit several websites including Shamukh al-Islam and al-Fida, which serve as a channel for al Qaeda forums.
“The hit was calculated”, according to one anonymous hacker in Charlotte, N.C. who conducts routine DOL (“Denial of Service”) attacks of al-Qaeda websites. “Whoever this person or person was did a great job and it looks like he pissed off all the right people in the process. Our hats off to whoever did it”, the hacker said.
“We suspect the attack originated in the United States”, said Paul Chapman of Charlotte, N.C. “Although we can be sure exactly what part of the country it came from, we should know more in a couple of days”, he said.
Robert Tilford