Isis 'how to' guide for making terror attacks circulating online

A new and comprehensive manual by Islamic State (Isis) manual has surfaced on social media websites.

The 70-page handbook covers a range of topics to target people living in Western societies. It appears to have been created to aid Isis supporters planning "lone-wolf" terrorist attacks.

IBTimes UK has taken the decision not to publish the name of the ebook.

The ebook covers a range of topics including hiding an extremist beliefs and identity, disguise, earning money, how to secure internet privacy, communications, making allies and training.

It describes itself as "a guide for Muslims who are living in a majority non-Muslim land, or a country where the rulers are harsh towards the believers... It will teach you how to be a secret agent who lives a double life."

The ebook is riddled with errors.

Instead of directing readers to the Tor Project – the volunteer-based network that provides encrypted access to the internet – they are sent to the science-fiction media website Tor.com.

The book refers to Rome as "Europe's capital" and says "the people who own the media have had Europe and the Western [sic] world as their stronghold for over 1,000 years", despite the world's first newspaper being published in 1605.

Isis library

The ebook is the latest in line of handbooks released by Isis.

Previous manuals from the group include The Management of Savagery, which provides reveals Islamic State's intention to target tourists and infiltrating public institutions.

"Everything in the book [The Management of Savagery] is possible," said Afzal Ashraf, an IS expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London. "But obviously they would find it more difficult to infiltrate the Army and police in Britain than they found in Iraq, where much of these institutions simply morphed into IS.

"The Management Of Savagery is a book for IS's thinkers, but less so the doers. Islamic State has also miscalculated – it thought that extreme violence would deter the West. In fact IS's enemies have been emboldened to take action."

Another recent semi-official treatise on the role of women is society was also released by the all-female al-Khanssaa Brigade. It sets out shocking behavioural expectations from women.

The manifesto reads: "It is considered legitimate for a girl to be married at the age of nine. Most pure girls will be married by 16 or 17, while they are still young and active. Young men will not be more than 20 years old in those glorious generations."