[RFE/RL] In the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, English-speaking militants claiming to be with the IS took to Twitter to praise the attackers.As news broke of the attack, British female militant Umm Jafar Britaniyah, based in the Syrian town of Manbij, expressed her elation in a series of tweets. Her first post was "ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!!! OUR brothers in France!!! May Allah reward them abundantly and grant them VICTORY AMEEN!!" Then she called on Allah to "help [the gunmen] kill as many kafirs as they can."
Another female militant, who tweets in English as Umm Handhla posted her initial reaction to the attack: "ALLAHU.AKBAR buzzzzzzzzzzzzzn May allah protect the mujahideen in Franceeee!!! Shooting was maad!!"
On January 7 she tweeted, "The france [sic] drones hit my husband including 19 other brothers, i make dua [pray] that the mujahideens kill the pilot of that drone tooo!"
The next day, a second British female militant, Al-Britaniya who claims to be based in Raqqa, reacted to condemnation of the attack. She tweeted, "I don't see no one condemning the death of my husband although he was droned."
Other English-speaking IS militants said that France was an enemy of Muslims. A female militant, who goes by the name Bird Of Jannah (Paradise) tweeted that "France is an obvious enemy. Their hatred is strong."
Bird of Jannah added that Muslims should not feel sorry for victims of the attack, tweeting, "If you love them and feel sad for what happened to them, verily you carry no Al Walaa wal Baraa (loyalty and disavowal). Your aqeedah (belief) has distorted! Fear Allah!"
On January 9, as news broke that the suspects in the attack may have been surrounded by French security forces northeast of Paris, a male militant, who calls himself Abu Junaid As-Somali, tweeted his wish that Allah grant the two men access to Paradise, because they had "muted & killed that filthy najis (a person regarded as ritually unclean) Charlie."
As-Somali had previously claimed that the IS had been responsible for the attack, tweeting about the "Islamic State wilayat (province) of Paris" and telling "Muslims of France" that they were lucky not to have to travel thousands of kilometers "to seek martyrdom."