ISIS affiliate’s online list names 264 Massachusetts employees in ‘scare tactic’
Such lists have been released in the past and none of the people named have ever been killed.
A cyber affiliate of the Islamic State has listed 264 Massachusetts government employees on what appears to be a hit list, The Boston Globe reports.
The State Police said the list, which includes the names of employees from across the state, was one of three posted Saturday to social media by the group called the United Cyber Caliphate. The other two lists included government workers in Rhode Island and Chicago.
None of the people named have been killed, and extremism experts told the Globe terror groups generally use such lists as a “scare tactic” toward Americans, and that they’re “fairly common” within the intelligence community.
“At this time we have no intelligence suggesting any immediate threat to Massachusetts citizens in response to this list or for any other reason,” State Police spokesman David Procopio told the Globe, suggesting that the names could have been gleaned from public records.
Still, state government officials said they’re taking the threat seriously and are working with the FBI, which may notify those named on the list.
Read the full Globe story here.
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