Internet postings purportedly written by a Nigerian charged with trying to bomb a US airliner on Christmas Day suggest a fervently religious and lonely young man who fantasized about becoming a Muslim holy warrior.
Throughout more than 300 posts, a user named “Farouk1986” reflects on a growing alienation from his family, his shame over sexual urges and his hopes that a “great jihad” will take place across the world.
While officials haven’t verified that the postings were written by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, details from the posts match his personal history.
For example, the username matches the alleged bomber’s middle name and birth year. Farouk1986 says he is from Nigeria, the home nation of the man who allegedly tried to bring down the Detroit-bound flight. And the suspect’s father says Abdulmutallab broke off ties with his family.
Those posts, beginning in 2005, show a teenager looking for a new life outside his boarding school and wealthy Nigerian family.
Most of all, they paint a portrait of someone who seems lost and needs someone to hear him.
The postings are replete with spelling and grammatical errors. In one, on Jan. 28, 2005, he wrote: “i am in a situation where i do not have a friend, i have no one to speak too, no one to consult, no one to support me and i feel depressed and lonely. i do not know what to do.”
The posts were made to an Islamic bulletin board.
Farouk1986 discussed growing up and preparing to leave his boarding school in Togo for college, which also matches Abdulmutallab’s personal history. However, educational pursuits appear to have been overtaken by a growing fascination with religion, with posts going so far as to describe his own fantasies about holy war.
“I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the muslims will win, insha Allah and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!” reads one Feb. 20, 2005, post.
On Jan. 28, 2005, Farouk1986 said he was writing from Yemen, and that he was learning Arabic at the San’a Institute of Arabic Languages. Administrators at the school said on Monday that its director has spent two days being questioned by Yemeni security officials.
In a series of exchanges the writer also discusses his conflict between attending his high school prom and being a good Muslim, proper Islamic dress, modern movies, marriage and his desire to learn Arabic.
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