An Al-Qaida magazine produced from Yemen has reconfirmed its reputation as a ‘killing’ manual after publishing tips on how to carry out random terror attacks on innocent civilians in the West, including citizens of “The United Snakes of America”.

“Inspire” is a 74-page magazine published in English and produced by the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, known by its acronym of AQAP. Its first edition produced a few months ago included an article entitled, ‘How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.’

Its latest edition includes advice on using poisonous gas as a weapon of mass destruction. “Poisonous gases such as nerve gas are not out of reach for the chemist and require simple equipment,” says the article entitled “The ultimate mowing machine”. “A microbiologist would be capable of developing the most effective strain of Clostridium botulinum and thus develop the most lethal strain of all: botulinum. An effective botulin attack would lead to hundreds if not thousands of casualties.”

The same article also offers advice on how to use a pick-up truck with welded steel blades to kill the maximum number of civilians in crowded inner cities. “If you have access to firearms, carry them with you so that you may use them to finish off your work if your vehicle gets grounded during the attack.”

A key player behind the magazine is an American citizen, Samir Khan from North Carolina. In his article “I am Proud To Be a Traitor to America”, Khan comments: “I praise Allah and laugh at the intelligence agencies that were watching me for all those years. Back in North Carolina, the FBI dispatched a spy on me who pretended to convert to Islam.”

He adds, “I am a traitor to America because my religion requires me to be one. We pledge to wage jihad for the rest of our lives until either we implant Islam all over the world or meet our Lord as bearers of Islam.”

It is Khan who is thought to have come up with “The United Snakes of America” as a new way of describing the US and its citizens. This almost comical distortion appears throughout the pages of the magazine.

Khan’s ethnic origins have invoked memories of other Pakistani-origin extremists who have spread mayhem around the world. They include Omar Sheikh, a former student of the London School of Economics, who has been linked to the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl. Sheikh was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court, but the sentence has not been implemented. Sheikh is of a similar generation to the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists who targeted India’s commercial capital of Mumbai in 2008, killing more than 160 persons and wounding some 300 others

“I am terrifically proud to be a part of such a religion and which Muslim wouldn’t?” Khan continues. “Islam has the answer to life’s problems and it is what bonds humanity together for the good. The annual Haj is just one example of that. Islam requires its domination and after 80 plus years of living in a post-Caliphate world, I would think that it’s about time Muslims came together to tear down the obstacles. The most important of these obstacles today is obviously America. It is America who has her military and intelligence bases spread throughout our lands in order to help protect their client governments from Muslims who work for Islam’s establishment. It is America who has killed millions of Muslims around the world and is able to get away with it wearing a tuxedo. In the case of the oppressive state of Israel, it wouldn’t be what it is today without heavy US military and financial backing.”

Although the US is the primary focus of Khan’s hatred, he has made room for a few other countries. India is not mentioned by name, but by implication when the magazine takes a swipe at the “unsolved” issue of Kashmir. “Isn’t it strange how the issue of Kashmir ignites flames when an event occurs, but the actual long-standing occupation doesn’t inspire us,” he comments.

It is the ‘Open Source Jihad’ section of the magazine that has attracted the most attention and not just because some of it is thought to have been personally authored by US citizen Khan. Describing itself as a resource manual for those who hate the tyrants, it lists its contents as bomb-making techniques, security measures, guerrilla tactics, weapons raining and “all other jihad-related activities.”

Advice about the use of firearms has this to say: “... choose the best location. A random hit at a crowded restaurant in Washington DC at lunch hour, for example, might end up knocking out a few government employees. “Targeting such employees is paramount and the location would also give the operation additional media attention.”

US officials and experts have reacted with concern to the magazine’s publication and its worldwide distribution. Peter Hoekstra, a member of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, describes it as a “virtual how to guide.”

He adds, “We underestimate this kind of radical jihadist propaganda at our peril. ‘Inspire’ is not designed for mainstream Muslim audiences who will reject its radical content. The target audience is marginal Muslims not integrated in mainstream” But another Washington-based expert and terrorism analyst Walid Phares commented, “This magazine has been basically designed to cater to those American-born jihadists or American-raised and educated jihadists who already have been indoctrinated.”