The 74-page English-language publication, called “Inspire,” urges attacks in “Israel, the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Denmark, Holland and other countries where the government and public sentiment is in support of the occupation of Palestine.”

It urges Muslims in America and other Western nations to wage home-grown terrorist attacks, offering grisly suggestions that “would cause chaos and trauma among the public.”

“We strongly encourage our brothers to fight jihad on US soil,” said an article titled “Tips for our brothers in the United States” by an author identified as Yahya Ibrahim.

The edition came out on the 10th anniversary of the suicide attack on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole — struck as it refueled in Aden, Yemen. The first edition came out in July.

Intelligence officials believe that an American citizen named Samir Khan, now living in Yemen, is the driving force behind the publication, and should be taken seriously.

In a section that suggests ideas for attacks inside the United States, the publication said that using firearms to carry out “a random hit at a crowded restaurant in Washington D.C. at lunch hour for example might end up knocking out a few government employees” and attracting widespread news media attention.

“When specific locations are mentioned as possible targets, that's always a concern,” a US counterterrorism official told reporters. “This terrorist publication is filled with the kind of hatred you see in other extremist propaganda.”

The magazine, complete with frank essays, cleverly designed imagery and ominous terrorist tips, preaches “sheer anarchy and mayhem,” he said.

The first chapters are an exercise in psychological programming, trying to make Muslims in the West feel guilt and angst for their comfortable lives and challenging their honor. If you don't wage jihad, the message goes, you're not a man.

Another article, under the headline "The Ultimate Mowing Machine," proposes attaching a steel blade to the front of a four-wheel-drive truck and using the vehicle as a battering ram to strike down citizens in crowded areas.

The article continues: "If you have access to firearms, carry them with you so that you may use them to finish off your work if your vehicle gets grounded during the attack."

It warned that the terrorists must be prepared to die.

As outrageous as the idea seems, it’s not that far removed from reality.  In a 2006 attack at the University of North Carolina, an Iranian student named Mohammed Taheri-Azar  injured nine people when he drove an SUV into a crowd of students leaving class. In a letter explaining his motivation, Taheri-Azar wrote that he had “no desire to amass the impermanent and temporary fame and material wealth this world has to offer.”

The article encourages suicide missions:  “You keep fighting until you achieve martyrdom.  You start out your day in this world, and by the end of it, you are with Allah.”

In another section called “My Life in Jihad” American citizen Samir Khan now living in Yemen writes: "I'm proud to be a traitor in America's eyes just as much as I'm proud to be a Muslim.

Militant groups have long used the Internet to distribute information on targets and methods of attack. But Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the Yemen-based offshoot is known, is a source of particular concern because of its ties to previous strikes on US soil, including a deadly shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, and the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner last year.