al-Qaeda training recruits to target train tracks and cause derailments in West

LONDON: The al-Qaeda terror group is encouraging its recruits to target train tracks and cause derailments in the West as means of spreading "fear" and "lack of security" among people, according to the outfit's online propaganda magazine.

The latest edition of the 'Inspire' magazine has 18 pages out of the total 97 pages dedicated to building a device that can take a rail off the tracks and can be built without using any electronic tools "so as to remove any traces for suspicion" and does not require "martyrdom".

"This can be performed by a single person multiple times," the article notes.


"It is time we instill fear and make them impose strict security measures to trains as they did with their air transportation. There will be a state of terror, fear and lack of security among the masses," it adds.

Inspire is the online magazine of the Yemen-based al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the latest article is credited to the group's master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, The Times reported.

Fears are growing that al-Qaeda is preparing a return to prominence as the Islamic State (ISIS) is increasingly squeezed in Syria and Iraq.

The magazine singles out Britain, France and the US for such train track attacks with "derailment devices" and from "inside or outside" as these trains are always crowded.

"America's railroads are estimated to be one third of the world's railway. So how can they protect 240,000km of railroad... it is practically impossible. The same goes for Britain with 18,500km and France with 29,743km.

"It is a daunting and almost impossible task to protect the long railroad length and yet one of the easiest to target. That may result in great destruction," the article notes.