ISIS Supporters Celebrate London Parliament Attack on Islamic State Social Media Channels

March 22, 2017

Although no group had yet claimed responsibility for a Wednesday attack near London’s Parliament which left four people, including the attacker, dead, the incident was immediately cheered online by supporters of the Islamic State.

The identity of the attacker had yet to be confirmed by Wednesday evening in Britain.

But a lack of information did not prevent ISIS supporters from rejoicing online. ISIS-linked social media channels posted live updates of the attack, in a similar vein to their activity following previous terrorist attacks in Paris, Nice and Orlando, according to New York Times reporter Rukmini Callmachi, an expert on ISIS. Responsibility for those three attacks was later claimed by ISIS.

The director of the SITE Intelligence Group, a leading counterterrorism organization, Rita Katz, reported that ISIS supporters were cheering the attack as revenge for British strikes on ISIS in Mosul. One referred to it as meeting “blood with blood.” Katz added that there was no ISIS-coordinated media campaign surrounding the incident in London, which may suggest no coordination with the attacker. However, the attack in many ways resembled previous ISIS-claimed attacks in Europe.