What makes Isis tick? Who does it aim to recruit now? Here’s a quick video to explain what really motivated the launch of the terrorist group:

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However, things have quickly changed now.

Recently, it was revealed that the German police had arrested a doctor, suspecting him of recruiting a mentally challenged man and convincing him to fight for the Islamic State.

Here is a video which depicts a seemingly mentally challenged man involved in violence:

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The accused, a 33 year old man, was arrested for brainwashing a 24 year old youngster with videos related to jihad, even going as far as paying for a one way ticket to Syria and Iraq. The young man who is also German by nationality, went on ahead to blow himself up in the city of Baiji, in northern Iraq. His death toll showed about twelve Iraqi soldiers, said the prosecutors.  “Findings by investigators showed that the suicide bomber was mentally restricted and easily influenced and had therefore been assigned to care,” the prosecutors added. “Whether the attacker was deliberately singled out by the accused because of his mental deficiency is the subject of further investigations,” the rest added.

The arrest in Berlin happened during raids of four apartments in the capital and the southwestern city of Mannheim, where the police detained an optical device for a firearm, documents, mobile phones and electronic data storage devices. Thousands of Europeans have journeyed to Syria to fight for Isis.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe said that the parents of the accused were both migrants to Germany, but did not say where they were from originally. The doctor on the other hand has a simple lineage, born of an Arab father and a German mother. But this has been seen time and time again, the Islamic State has recruited children, and mentally challenged to do the dirty deeds that others of the same religion refuse to do. The incredibly despicable Taliban too once actively recruited the handicapped to do their dirty work for them.  Forensic expert Dr. Yusuf Yadgari stated that he has in fact detected signs of mental illness in the bodies of suicide bombers.

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The suicide bombing in 2005 at a Kabul internet cafe drew attention for various reasons like it was one of the first in the Afghan capital after the fall of the Taliban, and it killed a UN worker along with the attacker named Qari Samiullah. But a little-known fact about that blast is the workings of the rebels who recruit these “suicide bombers”, and apart from religious propaganda, that has motivated approximately 200 men to kill themselves. Why is this important? Because other than being a deeply religious man, Qari Samiullah was also disabled.

The pool of the crestfallen is large in Afghanistan, there are people left on the fringes by their economic, physical or mental conditions and there are few services to rehabilitate them after thirty years of war. “Almost 90% are people with some form of disability,” said forensic expert Dr. Yusuf Yadgari. He has had to go through every bomber body in any attacks based in Kabul.  He has detected disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, amputated toes, blindness, skin diseases and signs of mental disorder in the bodies of numerous suicide bombers. Although there are no statistics available, anecdotal evidence backs up Yadgari’s observations. “One reason why people entertain the idea is there is complete loss of hope in being able to live a normal life,” said Firoz Ali Alizada, who has lost his legs to a land mine and now has to use artificial legs and crutches.

UK police chief claimed that Isis is targeting misfits and mentally ill to commit terror attacks. The Islamic State is not attempting to form terror cells based on the model of al-Qaeda to commit attacks in the West, but instead to create radicals among the misfits, criminals and the mentally challenged to carry out terror attacks. Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of specialist operations at the Metropolitan Police, said that the group targets potential recruits through social media, and has actively attempted to recruit “the vulnerable, people with violent backgrounds, very young people and those with mental health issues.” He said that ISIS had a cult following with a wicked motive and that the group isn’t looking to organize itself in secret cells in the way that the previous terrorist groups would have.

Instances such as what took place in Berlin are becoming bigger concerns around the world, as many prepare to fight for Isis and many more join hands in a fight against them.

 

Image: Flickr