ISIS published a new propaganda clip threatening to attack New York City, but US officials have dismissed the threat, urging New Yorkers to carry on with their lives.
The Islamic State (ISIS) terror organization has released a new clip on Wednesday threatening to carry out Paris-style terror attacks in New York City.
The clip shows famous locations in New York, including Times Square and yellow taxi cabs on city streets, which interchange with images of ISIS terrorists preparing suicide belts.
“And what is to come will be worse and more bitter,” ISIS threatens.
The New York Police Department said it “is aware” of the video, but added there was no current or specific threat to the city.
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An NYPD spokesman stated on Wednesday that some of the video footage is old, but the video reaffirms the message the city remains a top terrorist target. He said the police department will remain vigilant and continue to work with the FBI and the intelligence community.
The NYPD also said it will continue to deploy additional counter-terrorism teams throughout the city.
Mayor Bill de Blasio declared the city would not be intimidated. “Stoking fear is the goal of terrorist organizations, but New York City will not be intimidated.”
Officers with the NYPD anti-terrorism unit on the streets of New York. (AP/Bebeto Matthews)
“New Yorkers won’t live in fear and people should continue to go to work, live their lives, and enjoy the greatest city in the world,” he added.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has directed state agencies to “enhance their preparedness.”
De Blasio told the first 120 members of a new 500-officer-strong counter-terror unit on Monday that New York “is the chief terror target in the country,” and daily vigilance is needed.
The New York Police Department’s counter-terror units can now respond to as many as two dozen active shooting situations at once, having learned from such tragedies as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008, officials said. Intelligence officials also monitor social media postings, and detectives press informants for information on possible plots.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. (AP/Michael Balsamo)
On Monday, the terror group released a video threatening that countries who participated in the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against ISIS in Syria would suffer the same fate as Paris, where ISIS terrorists killed 132 and wounded 350 in multiple and simultaneous terror attacks last Friday. They specifically mentioned Washington DC.
“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” one of the terrorists declared.
US security forces have arrested and charged 49 ISIS-affiliated operative in the US in 2015.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel
AP contributed to this report.
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