Twitter Declines to Say Why They Won't Suspend Account Suspected of Belonging to Al Qaeda (UPDATE: The Account Is Now Suspended)

UPDATE — 8:40 PM ET:

Just hours after our report, the account suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda was suspended by Twitter. Visitors now see the following error message when attempting to access the profile:

A suspected Al Qaeda account has been suspended by Twitter, hours after TheBlaze published a story highlighting it. (Credit: Twitter)

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Social media giant Twitter declined to say on Saturday why they have not suspended a new account that is suspected to belong to Al Qaeda.

(Credit: Shutterstock)

"We don't comment on individual Twitter accounts, for security and privacy reasons," spokesman Nu Wexler told TheBlaze Saturday evening.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported the account's opening on Friday.

"An official al Qaeda website that is restricted to members of the terrorist group opened its first Twitter account this week in what U.S. officials say is an effort to resolve a major split over Syria’s Islamist rebels," the outlet wrote.

"The Shamukh al-Islam website, used as an official clearing house for al Qaeda members to communicate and issue propaganda statements, started its first Twitter account on Tuesday," The Beacon added.

The State Department, however, declined to confirm the validity of the account or say whether U.S. officials suspect it is real.

"The Department can't confirm the authenticity of any accounts other than our own," spokeswoman Laura Seal told TheBlaze Sunday.

The account, using the handle "@shomokhalislam," has sent out 47 tweets since its launch. Most recently, the account appeared to justify terrorism.

"Your governments are responsible for everything that happens to you at the hands of Mujahideen ! stop the black hate of your regimes," the account tweeted Sunday.

"Ask your governments why they are still robbing our lands . killing our children's . Violate our womens and desecrat our legions !" another tweet said.

Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter

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