ISIS tells supporters to quit messaging apps for fear of US bombs
CAIRO - ISIS has told its members to stop using internet-based communication apps like WhatsApp and Telegram on smartphones, suspecting they are being used by the US-led coalition to track and kill its commanders.
Until recently, the hardline group used such apps to chat with members and supporters outside its main areas of control in Syria, Iraq and Libya -- including, say French officials, the assailants who staged attacks across Paris a year ago, killing at least 130 people.
"If you get onto the programs like WhatsApp and Telegram or others from Mosul, and get in touch with a person being tracked, the crusaders will start thinking about you ... assessing your importance and identifying the locations of the (Islamic State) centres by following you," said an article in the group's weekly newspaper, Al-Naba, published online.
