A week after counter-terrorism analysts warned of Islamic State-linked groups inciting lone-wolf attacks on digital platforms against Western targets, a man in Paris stabbed three women, claiming his jihadi-style actions had been ordered by Allah.
Jihadist propaganda is designed to exploit human vulnerabilities, including psychological ones. Individuals suffering from severe mental disorders are useful weapons for its cause. By reducing such an attack to the madness of a single individual, the Interior Minister is not merely making an analytical error: his reaction is precisely the outcome this strategy seeks; it erases the dimension of jihadist incitement.
The Counter-Extremism Project, which flagged Islamic State’s latest calls for jihadi strikes, also documented the organization’s supporters on Telegram, RocketChat, and Matrix, celebrating ISIS sympathizer Abdul Ballout’s vehicle and knife attacks on the Berlin Pride festival on July 25, killing one woman and injuring 29 others.
Police have not released the name of the suspect who was overpowered by bystanders after he attacked with two kitchen knives three women, ages 19, 24, and 36, in broad daylight near Porte de Clichy in Paris on July 27. One victim was pregnant; two were critically wounded.
“It is Allah who commanded me,” the attacker told police. However, urging “great caution regarding the motives behind this extremely violent act,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez claimed the suspect’s statements were contradictory and “incoherent.” Nuñez also said police could not identify the attacker since he had provided only a “self-reported identity.” French authorities said the attacker has serious psychiatric issues.
Prominent French parliamentarian Marine Le Pen noted that the assault replicated the “modus operandi” of Islamist attacks. The attack “must not be relegated to the crime blotter and obscured by a guilty government and left to sweep the dust under the rug to avoid naming the evil. Eradicating Islamism is a daily battle,” she warned.
“Whether this man is found to be suffering from psychiatric disorders, or declared not criminally responsible, is a matter for further investigation. But it would be a mistake to treat mental illness and jihadism as two incompatible explanations,” Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, French expert on Islamism and president of the European Centre for Research and Information on the Muslim Brotherhood (CERIF), told Focus on Western Islamism (FWI).
“Jihadist propaganda is designed to exploit human vulnerabilities, including psychological ones. Individuals suffering from severe mental disorders are useful weapons for its cause. By reducing such an attack to the madness of a single individual, the Interior Minister is not merely making an analytical error: his reaction is precisely the outcome this strategy seeks; it erases the dimension of jihadist incitement,” she explained.
Islamic State Appeals to Lone Jihadis
On July 20, the Counter-Extremism Project released information documenting several calls from ISIS-K (Islamic State of Khorasan) on TikTok, communications apps, and file download Sites exhorting lone-wolf jihadis to strike Western targets.
Analysts identified a poster on RocketChat and Matrix published by ISIS-K-linked al-Azaim Media on July 14, featuring the slogan “Kill them,” and showing the United States Capitol and the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Researchers also located a TikTok account on July 16 with audio from official ISIS videos that promoted terrorism, accompanied by text encouraging users to gain access to an archive of explosives manuals and guides for homemade weapons and poisons.
On July 17, Counter-Extremism Project experts reported a pro-ISIS account and a bot on Telegram sharing manuals for making homemade explosives and drones. On July 12 and 13, a pro-ISIS channel on SimpleX re-released two videos from the ISIS-supporting Tala’i’ al-Ansar Foundation and al-Adiyat Foundation calling for jihadis to carry out terrorist attacks.
The editorial in the July 16 issue of ISIS’s al-Naba newsletter called for perseverance and praised martyrs from early Islamic history, noting that they died in battle without seeing victory. The authors noted that similar sacrifices were necessary in the present and urged supporters remain steadfast.
After the jihadi attack on the Berlin Pride festival, the Counter-Extremism Project reported that pro-ISIS Telegram channels had praised the attacker and his choice of targeting an LGBTQ+ Pride event.
One message noted that ISIS wasn’t required to formally take responsibility for the assault because of its extreme brutality and the fear it spread among its adversaries. Another update mentioned that the perpetrator represented a challenge for global security services, illustrating how people barred from traveling to support ISIS might instead carry out local strikes, influence fellow prison inmates, or promote ISIS messaging and beliefs.
Extremists Use Digital Tools and Publications to Incite Lone Jihadis
Michael Barak, a researcher at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, confirmed that Islamic State and al-Qaeda use RocketChat’s inner chat rooms to find new contacts and Discord to explain to new militants how to join their ranks.
Analysts also explained how Islamist publications such as al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine or the Islamic State’s Rumiyah provide instructions for carrying out jihadi attacks against Westerners.
Barak noted that Inspire magazine is published in 13 languages, adding, “Languages are important to target the Muslim audience locally but, overall, the message is basically the same on how to plan terrorist attacks worldwide by building explosives, targeting specific people, and so on.” Inspire is “very useful to target lone wolves in the West, because they are already within the Western countries,” he emphasized.
Lone Actors Undertake Majority of Western Jihadi Strikes
According to the Global Terrorism Index (2025), lone actors perpetrated 93 percent of deadly terrorist attacks in the West in the past five years. The majority of foiled plots in the West were also attributed to Islamic State-inspired lone-wolf jihadis.
Jihadi groups also direct lone actors on the choice of target and timing. In a 41-minute speech in April 2024 published on Telegram, Islamic State spokesman Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari praised the recent Moscow attack to ask lone wolves to attack Jews and Christians during Ramadan.
A study by the Institute for Economics and Peace confirmed that Islamic State remains the deadliest organization, responsible for 1,805 deaths across 22 countries in 2024. It also warned that “the majority of Western attacks are now carried out by individuals without formal group affiliations, who radicalize through social media, gaming platforms, and encrypted messaging apps.”
Correlation Between Intensifying Radicalization and Jihadi Attacks in Germany
Germany has a history of lone jihadi strikes. In 2016, Anis Amri, a Tunisian national affiliated with the Islamic State, drove a stolen truck into the Christmas market at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz, killing 12 people and injuring 56.
In May 2024, Afghan immigrant Sulaiman Ataee carried out a knife attack in Mannheim’s Marktplatz, stabbing anti-jihadi activist Michael Stürzenberger and killing police officer Rouven Laur. In August 2024, ISIS-linked Syrian asylum seeker Issa Al H killed three people and injured eight during a festival in Solingen.
Earlier this year, FWI reported that March 2026 study by MOTRA (Monitoring System and Transfer Platform for Radicalization), operating under the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Hamburg University, warned that radicalization continues at “precariously high levels,” with 45.1 percent of young German Muslims holding “manifest Islamist attitudes” in 2025.
