Bin Laden Sent Videotapes. Islamic State Runs a 24/7 News Agency

  • Amaq news agency run from within Islamic State, analysts say
  • Terrorist group using encrypted platforms to communicate

How Islamic State Makes Money Explained in Three Minutes

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Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had to rely on video and audio messages recorded in remote hideouts and delivered to international television networks by supporters to claim responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Islamic State, today the preeminent terrorist threat to the West, sponsors its own Amaq news agency, producing dispatches on a 24-hour news cycle using mobile technology. The group claimed Tuesday’s bombings in Brussels through the agency, posting reports in English and then Arabic in a detached journalistic style free of images or statements from its leader. Aware of the propaganda value of defining itself as a combatant in an unequal struggle, Amaq said the attacks were part of a wider war with an international coalition.