FBI foiled terrorist plans to attack U.S. on July 4

Washington, Jul 10 (EFE).- The FBI said Thursday, in recent weeks it thwarted terrorist plans to attack United States during Jul. 4 festivities and warned against potential new threats.

FBI Director James Comey said, the terrorist plans were “inspired” by Islamic State, or IS, and their call to attack United States, though he avoided specifying the number of plans aborted and their targets.

Police operation across the country against IS linked terrorism has led to dozens of arrests over the last few weeks.

“I do believe our work disrupted efforts to kill people, likely in connection with July 4,” said Comey.

The plans, detected and foiled by the FBI, were much less sophisticated and involved the use of pistols and knives.

According to U.S. authorities, these plans were not masterminded by terrorist groups outside the United States, although they required assistance from them for execution.

The assistance included recruiting people (who are now detained) and motivating them to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.

The communication with IS members was done using encrypted data online.

In the days leading to July 4 celebrations, the authorities had tightened security and alerted against possible attacks. EFE

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Category: Daily Witness, National