Al Qaeda launched a Twitter account earlier this week, and after only five days, has had their account suspended.

The account, @shomokhalislam, made less than 50 tweets while it was running, and had over 1,800 followers. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the site was made to be “the Shamukh al-Islam website, [and was to be] used as an official clearing house for al Qaeda members to communicate and issue propaganda statements”.

United States terrorism analyst, J.M. Berger told The Associated Press: “The person who runs their Twitter account has obviously invested a lot of energy in the process of grabbing headlines, and for Shabab, the account allows them to amplify the message that they wish to send with the attack itself.”

One tweet read: “Dear Brothers, the Mujahideen today are going through a period of great scrutiny and trial Be them good Nassara, and certain after God.”

The account had even started tweeting about current attacks. The latest tweet read: “Peshawar from New burn under the feet of the servants of worshipers of the cross, the explosive device was detonated now targeting Bus least the staff of the Ministry of Interior of Pakistan in Peshawar. The attack killed more than 17 people dead and inflicted 35 wounded in the initial toll expected to rise .. Source Brother Fadil Abu Maaz Kouhati.”

Counterterrorism analyst Patrick Poole said: “We’ve seen terrorist groups make increasingly effective use of social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, in recent years. Not only is this important for propaganda purposes but also recruitment.”

So far, there has been no reason given as to why the account was suspended.

Image via Twitter