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Tag: ISIL

  • BULLETIN: Terrorist-Inspired Attack In Rochester, N.Y., Thwarted, FBI Says

    breakingnews725BULLETIN: (2nd Update 1:58 p.m. ET U.S.A.) The FBI has arrested a man from Rochester, N.Y., saying he planned to show his support for ISIS by carrying out a machete attack today at a bar/restaurant in the Rochester area. ISIS is a terrorist group also known as ISIL.

    Today is New Year’s Eve. Bars and restaurants will be packed, a circumstance that suggests the suspect wanted to maximize the terror he would create.

    On Dec. 29, Emanuel L. Lutchman, 25, went shopping at a Walmart store on Hudson Ave. in Rochester to acquire the equipment needed for the bloody attack, including two black ski masks, zip-ties, two knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia and latex gloves, according to a chilling FBI affidavit that outlined the plan.

    Lutchman’s shopping companion, however, was an FBI informant, according to the affidavit.

    Prior to his arrest yesterday, according to the affidavit, Lutchman swore his allegiance on video to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and claimed credit for the attack.

    “The FBI thwarted Emanuel Lutchman’s intent to kill civilians on New Year’s Eve,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen of the Buffalo division.  “The FBI remains concerned about people overseas who use the Internet to inspire people in the United States to commit acts of violence where they live.”

    Lutchman allegedly told an FBI informant that he’d been in contact with an “Overseas Individual” who’d identified himself as an ISIS “brother.” This individual, according to the affidavit, allegedly told  Lutchman that being with ISIS was  “dream come true.”

    Lutchman, in December, “expressed his hatred for everything in America” and the supposed infidels here and his desire to go to Syria to join ISIS, according to the affidavit.

    Also in December, Lutchman talked about “doing assassinations” and using “firearms” and a “pressure-cooker bomb,” according to the affidavit.

    “I am ready to lose my family” to live under the ISIS caliphate, Lutchman allegedly said. At one point, according to the affidavit, he pointed out the bar/restaurant as a potential attack target and said “he knew someone with a machete and that his wife has a dagger.”

    The zip-ties were needed in case they “kidnap[ped] somebody,” Lutchman allegedly said.

    After the Walmart shopping trip, Lutchman allegedly said, “It’s going to get real after this. “It’s just you, me and the Lord. We gotta do this, we gotta do this precise.”

    Continuing, Lutchman allegedly said, “If we grab somebody, they can’t live. They may identify the vehicle. They can’t live.”

    He has been charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

    “This New Year’s Eve prosecution underscores the threat of ISIL even in upstate New York but demonstrates our determination to immediately stop any who would cause harm in its name,” said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York.

    Rochester, in the western section of the state, has a population of about 210,000 and is New York’s third-largest city, behind New York City and Buffalo. Rochester is about the same size as San Bernardino, Calif., which was subjected to a terrorist  attack on Dec. 2 that killed 14 people.

    Read the statement on the Lutchman arrest by the Justice Department.

    Read the FBI affidavit.

  • Foreign Office Asks U.K. Travelers To Be ‘Vigilant’ In Wake Of Ongoing Military Campaign Against ISIS; North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty To ‘Attempting To Aid’ Terrorist Organization Linked To Beheadings

    Citing a generalized global terrorism threat, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office says it is updating its travel advice and has asked U.K. travelers to be “vigilant.”

    From the Foreign Office (italics added):

    “There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time.”

    Put another way, if you are a Brit, ISIS or ISIS sympathizers may attack you on that basis alone.

    The United Kingdom, like the United States, Canada and Australia, is a member of the military coalition arrayed against ISIS. Australian authorities have said ISIS or its sympathizers planned random attacks against members of the Australian public to demonstrate the reach of the terrorist group.

    ISIS, also known as ISIL or the Islamic State, has beheaded Brits and Americans and appears to be inciting people from multiple nations to join ISIS campaigns in Iraq and Syria. ISIS also appears to be inciting nationals from multiple countries to make war against their own governments or own fellow citizens to broaden the terror.

    On Oct. 30, federal prosecutors in North Carolina announced that Donald Ray Morgan, a 44-year-old local man from Rowan County, pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and possession of a firearm by a felon.

    “Today’s plea is a sad reminder that those who wish to aid foreign terrorist organizations can come from any community and from any background,” said Ripley Rand, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

    From a statement on the Morgan case by federal prosecutors (italics added):

    According to court documents, Morgan knowingly attempted to provide support and resources beginning in January 2014 until on or about Aug. 2, 2014, including his own services, to al-Qa’ida in Iraq, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization. On at least one occasion Morgan unsuccessfully attempted to travel from Lebanon to Syria to join ISIL/ISIS. Morgan also frequently used social media and an interview with an American journalist to express his support for ISIL/ISIS and violent terrorist activities.

    A look at the agencies that participated in the Morgan probe shows that terrorism-related activities have become not only a concern for national agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, but also local agencies. Indeed, the names of the Greensboro Police Department, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, the High Point Police Department and the Winston-Salem Police Department all appear in the Justice Department’s statement on the Morgan case. The local agencies are are members of Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

    “We will continue to do everything we can to work effectively with our law enforcement partners and protect innocent people from terrorist activity, whether here in the United States or abroad,” Rand said.

    “Preventing individuals from joining ISIL and holding accountable those who attempt to provide material support to the terrorist organization remains one of our highest priorities,” said John Carlin, assistant Attorney General for National Security.

    In the United Kingdom, MailOnline, citing extracts from a U.N. study, is reporting concerns that “a new breed of terrorist was being attracted by the [ISIS] ‘cosmopolitan’ use of social media.”

    The report suggests that terrorists could making war or inciting it in one moment — and posting “kitten photographs” on Twitter in the next.

    In recent days, individuals have carried out alarming attacks against Canadian soldiers, the Canadian Parliament, New York City police officers and a police officer in Washington, D.C. The precise motives for the attacks and the degree to which mental-heath issues may have played a role are less than clear, which makes the overall circumstance murkier.

    Weaponry has ranged from guns (Canada) to a hatchet (New York) to an ax (Washington).

  • Major Counter-Terrorism Operation Aimed At Alleged ISIS Supporters Announced In Australia; Police Seize Sword, Weapons; Random Attacks Planned Against Members Of Public, Police Say

    From abc.net,au
    From abc.net.au

    The largest counter-terrorism campaign in Australia’s history reportedly is under way today, with officials saying one or more individuals with links to ISIS planned random attacks against members of the Australian public to demonstrate the reach of the terrorist group.

    ISIS is associated with beheadings. Two American journalists and a British aid worker have been executed in this fashion by ISIS, which has taken over lands in Iraq and Syria.

    Video circulating in Australian media today shows that police seized a sword.

    Here is the lede from a story in The Telegraph (U.K.) (italics added):

    Pre-dawn raids across Sydney and Brisbane led to the arrest of fifteen people and the reported seizure of a scimitar, a gun, machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues which authorities said were to be used in a plot to “shock, horrify and terrorise” the community.

    “It is of serious concern that in the heart of our community there have been plans to conduct a random attack,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said. “We know there were plans on foot and we have been able to disrupt that.”

    From a statement by Australian Federal Police (italics added):

    Fifteen people have been detained in relation to serious terrorism related offences during a major NSW Joint Counter Terrorism (JCTT) operation in Sydney today.

    More than 800 officers from the AFP and NSW Police Force conducted 25 search warrants across Sydney this morning in the suburbs of Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.

    Fifteen warrants have been undertaken at Sydney premises this morning, with a further 10 warrants undertaken in relation to vehicles.

    The operation follows the Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigation of a group of people located in Sydney alleged to have the intent to carry out random attacks on individuals here in Australia.

    Police believe this group was actively preparing for the attacks however there is no information regarding a specific attack, including dates, time or location.

    The warrants were undertaken today to prevent the group’s planning activities at the earliest opportunity, and collect further evidence.

    Also see The Australian.

    Also see abc.net.au.

    From NBC News (italics added):

    Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters that “exhortations” were coming from an Australian who is senior in the ISIS movement to support networks in Australia to “conduct demonstration killings.”

     Also:

  • Obama To Address Nation On ISIS Threat

    BULLETIN: (Updated 2:09 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) The White House has announced that President Obama will address the American people at 9 p.m. EDT tomorrow on the threat posed by ISIS, a terrorist group that has seized lands in Iraq and Syria. ISIS, the asserted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also is known as ISIL.

    ISIS is responsible for the beheadings of two American journalists overseas and is believed to be holding other individuals captive.

    Here is the full statement by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest (italics added):

    The President will deliver an address to the nation from the State Floor of the White House Wednesday night at 9:00 PM EDT to discuss with the American people the threat posed by ISIL and to lay out the United States’ strategy for degrading and ultimately destroying the terrorist group.

     Also see AP story dated today via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that quotes a New York City police official talking about the “mass marketing of terrorism.”

    Thursday is the 13 anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.