ISIS May Use Ebola As a Suicide Bio Weapon Of Terror: Reports

There are growing concerns that the Islamic State jihadists may use Ebola virus as a bio terror weapon to attack the West. According to some experts, the ISIS fanatics may try to infect themselves with Ebola virus to become carriers and attack others.

The virus is rampant in West Africa and already killed 3,800 people in the past few months

Suicide Bio Weapon

Since the virus is transmitted by direct contact with infected persons, it may not be difficult for fanatics to contract it and travel to countries they wanted to wreak havoc, according to a military expert. Al Shimkus, a former professor at the National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, concurred that this scenario is entirely plausible, reports Dailymail.uk.

Shimkus told Forbes magazine that an individual exposed to Ebola Virus would become a carrier of the disease. For terrorists, becoming a human carrier of the deadly disease is not very difficult. This possibility was also endorsed by Anthony Glees, Director at Buckingham University's Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies. According to him, "Suicide missions ISIS are not uncommon. Being murderous in actions and well-informed they may consider this option too". Ebola virus is already running rampant in West and more cases are appearing in Europe and the U.S.

Bio Terror

The forewarning of such a scenario can be seen in the journal "Global Policy" where Amanda Teckman, authored a paper, "The Bioterrorist Threat Of Ebola In East Africa And Implications For Global Health And Security" in May 2013, where she wrote: 'The threat of Ebola bioterrorist attack in East Africa is a global health and security concern, and should not be ignored" reported Forbes.

To address such concerns on bio terror, the United States Of America unveiled $5.6 billion Project called Bioshield, a few years ago. It was introduced during the regime of President George W. Bush in 2004. It offers generous funding and support for scientists researching on bio-weapon counter-measures through accelerated research against chemical, radiological and nuclear agents. The project permits the U.S government to stockpile huge quantities of medical countermeasures.

However, Jennifer Cole, Senior Research Fellow, Resilience & Emergency Management, at the Royal United Services Institute, said ISIS looking at Ebola as a weapon cannot be ruled out. But given the deadly signs of Ebola, they cannot get away with it. The main issue with Ebola is that it is hard to control. That means, militants themselves will get wiped out before they can pass on to others.