Islamic State terrorists are being urged to target police officers, government officials, and “media figures” inside the United States by ISIS leaders.
An ISIS spokesman said in an audio message to supporters that “lone wolf” persons affiliated with the group should target the three sectors, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said in a bulletin sent to U.S. law enforcement officials.
The individuals should attack “soldiers, patrons, and troops … their police, security and intelligence members” in Western countries, the spokesman said, noting that the attackers don’t need to “ask for anyone’s advice.”
An English translation of the message was recently posted on a jihadi forum, reported NBC.
Around the same time, according to the bulletin, an ISIS supporter posted a document in an ISIS-dominated web forum advocating “open source jihad” and “lone wolf operations” by U.S. Muslims against “a list of potential targets, including military, law enforcement, FBI personnel, government officials and media figures.”
Officials said they’re not aware of any specific threat but warned law enforcement and FBI personnel and to take “additional precautions” when conducting interviews because of potential threats.
And it warned that the “lone wolf” nature of the attack means that supporters can carry out attacks with little warning.
The bulletin comes after Judicial Watch, citing Department of Homeland Security sources, said that four ISIS combatants were apprehended trying to cross the border into the United States at McAllen and Pharr in Texas.
The report came after Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif, a former Marine Corp Major and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught trying to cross the border into Texas.
“ISIS is coming across the southern border,” he told Fox News. “They aren’t flying B1 bombers bombing American cities, but they are going to be bombing American cities coming across from Mexico.”
“I know that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas,” he added.
But while Border Control nabbed the terrorists, “you know there’s going to be dozens more that did not get caught by the Border Patrol,” he said.
A Department of Homeland Security denied that any people with ties to ISIS were apprehended.
Numerous groups are keeping watch for ISIS militants, including the Fusion Intelligence Center in Charleston, West Virginia.
Director Thomas Kirk told WCHS-TV in September that the group has been keeping tabs on classified information on how ISIS militants could be operating in the Mountain State.
While he wouldn’t reveal details, Kirk said that ISIS is training and recruiting people in the U.S. close enough to the state to be concerned.
There are areas in the United States that are not too far from here, that have very large populations that are being recruited for ISIS right now,” Kirk said. “There are people associated with Al Quaida, there are people on the Terrorist Watch List who do travel through West Virginia, whether it’s through the airports or through the roads.”
President Barack Obama and his military commanders were set to meet Tuesday with defense chiefs from more than 20 nations participating in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, though it wasn’t clear whether the threat to the U.S. would be discussed at all.
The daylong meeting came as the White House tries to tout progress in the U.S.-led campaign against the militants, while also girding the public for a military effort that could extend well beyond Obama’s presidency. Administration officials said the meeting would focus on military strategy and ways to bolster the campaign to counter the extremists.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the meeting would be an important effort to further coordinate and organize the international fight against the Islamic State militants.
“They will be working through those specific areas and defining specific contributions that these nations will make,” Hagel told reporters at the end of Monday’s meeting with defense ministers of the Americas in Arequipa, Peru.
Among the countries represented Tuesday will be Arab nations that have joined the U.S. in launching strikes against the militants in Syria, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. European partners like Britain and France are also participating, as is Turkey, a key NATO ally that neighbors both Syria and Iraq.
The U.S. has been pushing the government in Ankara to play a larger role in taking on the extremists, who are locked in a fierce battle for territory on Turkey’s border. The fight over the town of Kobani in particular has emerged as a major test of whether the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State can roll the militant group back in Syria.
On Sunday, American officials said Turkey will let U.S. and coalition forces use its bases for operations against the militants. However, Turkish officials denied that it had reached such a deal with the U.S. and said the two countries would hold deeper talks in the coming days.
“I am optimistic about progress that we are making with the Turks as they … further define their role in the coalition against ISIL,” Hagel said Monday, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State.
Islamic State extremists have carved out a vast stretch of territory from northern Syria to the outskirts of Baghdad, where they have imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. The fighters have massacred hundreds of captured Iraqi and Syrian soldiers, terrorized religious minorities, and beheaded two American journalists and two British aid workers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled into Turkey from Syria ahead of the militants.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
