Federal authorities have issued a warning to police departments across the country to watch out for lone-wolf terror attacks in the wake of U.S.-led airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria.
According to several reports, including one in
the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued the warning Tuesday hours after American and coalition forces
pounded militant targets in the Middle East.
The warning, according to the Wall Street Journal, pertains to homegrown extremists who have sympathy for the Islamic State and other terror groups.
Last week, it was reported that Islamic State supporters were
advocating lone-wolf attacks in New York City's Times Square, along with tourist areas in Las Vegas and Texas, using homemade bombs. One online post included a how-to guide on making a bomb with household items.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton
told the New York Post he is "quite concerned" about the terror group's capabilities.
"There are no credible, specific threats to the city at this time based on the latest intelligence," Bratton said. "We're quite concerned, as you would expect, of the capabilities of ISIS, much more so than al-Qaida … to use social media to try and spread their recruitment efforts to try and inspire.
"We're focused on it, and I believe we are as prepared as any entity could be to deal with threats. But the reality is that we are living in a new era of potential terrorism," he said.
On Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said
lone wolves and Iran pose bigger threats to America than the Islamic State.
"The lone wolves worry me more, because they're harder to follow, they're harder to track. It's harder to get intelligence," Giuliani said.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.