The complimentary full text of this report is made available from the JTTM.
As of this writing, no official message from jihadi media organs has appeared on jihadi websites in reaction to U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement that U.S. forces had killed Osama Bin Laden.
The administrators of the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum erased two messages posted by members who discussed the issue, and issued a statement warning members not to talk about the matter and not to believe any media reports, but to rely only on official statements from the mujahideen: "Have faith in Allah, be patient and do not report the rumors that are being spread! We have clarified this matter many times. By God, none of you is to write about this matter until we receive confirmed reports from those concerned."
Many forum members responded to this message by expressing denial of the reports in the Western media and by praying for Bin Laden's wellbeing.
A prominent writer on Shumoukh, Hussein Bin Mahmoud, posted a message titled "Osama is Alive." Many members took heart in a news item on Russia Today TV, according to which the Pakistani Taliban denied Bin Laden's death, saying that he was in a safe place.
Some online jihadists went as far as denying the authenticity of the photos that appeared in the media showing Bin Laden's body. A member of the Al-Tahadi forum, Abu Badr Al-Harbi, posted the following image, in an attempt to prove that the photo is fake:
A member of Shumoukh who calls himself Abu Malik Al-Maqdisi, who is most likely Palestinian, expressed the wish for revenge:
"America and the community of disbelief must know that Osama's soldiers and religion did not and will not die, Allah willing. We are determined, Allah willing, [to take] revenge, revenge, revenge. If he is alive, we will take revenge, and if he is a martyr, we will take revenge. We will not forget our religion, which you have insulted, and our prophet, whom you have mocked... We are your soldiers, O Osama! By Allah, how good you are, dead or alive."
Another member of Shumoukh, going by the name Mukhadib Al-Dima', discussed the spontaneous gathering outside the White House, asking who would be willing to come forth to kill Americans, joining the list of heroes that includes Nidal Hasan, Faisal Shahzad, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, and others. He reminded his fellow jihadists that there is no need to ask clerical permission for the killing of Americans.
The administrators of 'Al-Tawhid', a popular page of jihadist sympathizers on Facebook with over 18,000 followers, reacted to the news with dismay, pleading with members not to believe the reports. Later on, though, the administrators changed the profile picture to that of Bin Laden, and published poems commemorating him.
In addition, a new Facebook page sympathizing with Bin Laden was set up this morning, titled "We are all the Sheikh Osama Bin Laden". Several hours after being established, the page has 684 followers.
Shumoukh Al-Islam, Al-Tahadi, facebook.com, May 2, 2011
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