Spanish security chief warns that ISIS militants plan to spread Ebola to Western countries to kill civilians

(NaturalNews) In a stark reminder that the threat of bio-terrorism remains very real, Spanish intelligence officials say they have uncovered a plot by militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to sort of "weaponize" the Ebola virus in an unorthodox, but scary, way.

According to Britain's Daily Mail, the insurgent group is urging its supporters in the U.S. and throughout the West to turn Ebola into a biological weapon by stabbing people with infected needles, according to a senior Spanish political figure.

The paper reported that Francisco Martinez, who is Spain's security secretary, is taking the threats seriously after learning of conversations between jihadists, in which they talk about carrying out the "lone wolf" attacks.

'Increased chatter'

In a speech to Parliament a few days ago, Martinez said that potential jihadis are utilizing Internet chat rooms to discuss the best ways to carry out such attacks. He added that such conversations prove that Islamic State insurgents believe that the Internet is "an extension of the battlefield."

Spain's second in command at the Interior Ministry went on to say that investigators had uncovered "many examples" of threats to use Ebola as a weapon. And he identified three specific cases in which potential jihadis "linked to ISIS" had used Internet chat rooms as a medium for serious discussion of how possible it might be to harness the deadly virus and other poisons and toxins as part of a new biological terror campaign, Spain's RTVE media company reported.

Martinez said one conversation, which allegedly occurred between ISIS sympathizers in September, talked about "the use of Ebola as a poisonous weapon against the United States." Another involved insurgents discussing how to best employ "" taken from laboratories.

The Spanish secretary also said that a spokesman for the militant group had gone online as well to urge supporters to kill Westerners by any means at their disposal. The ISIS spokesman suggested "poisonous injections" as one possible way to infect people.

Martinez talked about six benefits ISIS has identified to having a strong presence online.

"Threatening enemies through propaganda, preparing operations, exchanging information, ideological training, recruiting new members and acquiring finance," he said -- which are the same reasons why nearly all terrorist groups use the Internet as well.

Earlier in October, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh (pronounced "Jay") Johnson discounted any notion that ISIS was considering weaponizing Ebola.

What about an infected suicide bomber?

"We've seen no specific credible intelligence that [ISIS] is attempting to use any sort of disease or virus to attack our homeland," he told an audience at the Association of the United States Army.

Some have suggested that much of the ISIS "chatter," as it is known in the intelligence community, may have been planted by American intelligence, as a means of identifying real jihadists and others who might be associated with the Islamic group.

The reason for the suspicion is simple: There are simpler ways to infect populations with the deadly virus other than going around stabbing individual victims with Ebola-infected syringe needles. One way might be to have an infected suicide bomber detonate an explosive device in a crowd; the body fluids from the bomber would be spread to an untold number of people at once. Or an infected jihadist could simply spread his bodily fluids on public surfaces, on which the Ebola virus can survive for up to 50 days. And, say some analysts, given lax U.S. border security, such a scenario is much more possible. This retired U.S. Navy officer and current Naval War College professor thinks this is possible.

Johnson and other Obama Administration officials have said the U.S. border is secure, but that is unlikely, given the scant resources provided to border security agents.

Learn all these details and more at the FREE online Pandemic Preparedness course at www.BioDefense.com

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

http://absoluterights.com

http://www.inquisitr.com

http://science.naturalnews.com