The Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda is calling on its members to launch terrorists attacks in their home countries.
The terror group released a statement in the latest copy of their magazine Inspire that calls for a series of car bombings in countries that they feel are working against Allah.
The magazine piece specifically calls on jihadists to launch attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The article also specifically calls for attacks in “crusading” countries Great Britain and France.
“Choosing the place and time is a crucial factor to success in any operation,” the magazine reads. “Choose targets in your own country. You know the enemy better, you are within … The important thing is that you target people and not buildings.”
The bombers are used to making attacks during “election seasons” and between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The article also gave instructions on how to make a simple bomb.
A National Guard reservist has been arrested and charged in Federal court with attempting to carry out terror attacks for Al-Qaeda.
Nicholas Teausant, 20, was charged Monday with attempting to provide material to support a foregoing terrorist organization.
Teausant reportedly told an undercover FBI agent that he had been planning a terror attack on a Los Angeles area subway system in January but called it off because the FBI had been tipped to the attack. He then said he was going to attempt to join Al-Qaeda in Syria to fight against the Syrian government.
Teausant was arrested attempting to sneak into Canada so he could board a flight to Syria.
Teausant was listed in court as a student at San Joaquin Delta Community College and a member of the National Guard.
His family told reporters on Monday that “he’s not a terrorist. He’s not evil.”
The Muslim Brotherhood is now a terrorist organization in another major Middle Eastern country.
The group, already a terrorist organization in Egypt, is now officially a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia.
The move is seen as a response by the Kingdom to the possibility that Muslim Brotherhood extremists from Syria will attempt to return to Saudi Arabia after the civil war ends.
In addition to the Brotherhood, Saudi officials also listed the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as terror groups. The two groups are affiliated with al-Qaeda and have been proven to conduct terrorist attacks in Syria and Iraq.
The new Saudi declaration would make adopting their ideaology or promoting them in any way within the Kingdom would result in significant prison terms.
Amnesty International opposed the designation, saying that Saudi Arabia was trying to silence dissent, not stop terrorist groups from conducting actions in their nation.
A security threat issued this week by Homeland Security regarding shoe bomb attacks on international flights into the U.S. is due to intelligence reports showing Al-Qaeda plotting the attacks.
DHS issued the warning after Ibrahim Hassaon al-Asiri, a Saudi Arabian man who plotted other failed shoe bomb attacks for the terrorist group, reportedly has developed a new method of hiding explosives in shoes.
U.S. officials label al-Asiri the best terrorist bomb maker in the world.
The bulletin to security screeners around the world calls on them to use swabs containing explosive detecting chemicals on shoes because an X-ray may not be able to detect the devices.
Increased security has already been seen in London and Amsterdam.
The DHS report says that the current plot is not connected in any way to plot involving the current Olympic games.
The attack happened in April, 2013. Until the Wall Street Journal broke details of the event this week, hardly anyone knew of a sniper attack on a power substation in California.
Now, former federal officials are saying the attack looks like a test run for terrorists.
The attack on a Pacific Gas and Electric substation involved someone breaking into an underground vault and cutting all phone lines while snipers fired over 100 shots into the station destroying 17 transformers. While PG&E was able to avoid a major blackout as a result of the attack, it took the company 27 days to repair all the damage.
Jon Wellinghoff, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission when the attack happened, believes the incident was a terror attack despite FBI claims otherwise.
Wellinghoff called the attack “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the U.S. power grid that has ever occurred.”
Wellinghoff says he bases his view on the evidence the scene. Shell casings from the sniper’s rifles had no fingerprints. The shooting positions had obviously been pre-arranged.
Wellinghoff said that most electrical grid sites don’t have nearly adequate protection to stop a terrorist team.
Hotels near MetLife Stadium, the site of this year’s Super Bowl, are on lock down after police discovered several letters mailed there that contained a powdery substance.
A letter was also mailed to the New York office of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
A law enforcement official said one of the envelopes is negative for any dangerous substance and was likely baking soda.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force and Hazard Materials units responded to multiple locations.
Hackensack University Medical Center received a handful of people for evaluation from various hotels but the powder had sickened no one.
Police said that they intercepted several envelopes in a mail truck before they were delivered to a Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn. Eight workers from the mailroom that processed the letters went through decontamination as a precaution.
New Jersey State Police are using the attacks near the Sochi Olympics site as a model for security for this weekend’s Super Bowl.
Law enforcement was quick to add they had no specific threats toward the Super Bowl that required bomb detection.
“Of particular concern to us is what was going on overseas in Volgograd in regard to the Sochi Olympics. As you know both of those bombings were targeting mass transit,” New Jersey State Police spokesman Rick Fuentes told reporters. “That is a concern with the mass transit; we’ve prepared ourselves for it.”
Officials have limited parking near MetLife Stadium forcing tens of thousands attending the game to use public transportation to arrive at the game site. The stadium has been locked down all week and people will travel at least 10 miles from New York City via public transit.
New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton told reporters that the city was using “advanced intelligence gathering operations” developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
The gunman who walked into a Maryland shopping mall and shot two people inside a skateboard store reportedly was just looking to kill.
Police say that Darion Aguilar had a journal where he wrote that he was looking to kill people and that he was ready to die. The journal didn’t name anyone specifically that Aguilar wanted to kill but he mentioned having a “general hatred of others.”
He also wrote in the journal that he needed to seek help from a mental health professional but that he had not talked with his family about that need.
Detectives who have been going through Aguilar’s computer, cell phone and journal say that there is absolutely no connection to the two people he gunned down. There is also nothing that indicates why he chose the skateboard shop Zumiez for his rampage.
Police released new information yesterday that said Aguilar assembled his shotgun in the dressing room of the store and then opened fire.
The strongest team at the Super Bowl this year won’t be the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks.
The department of homeland security has declared Super Bowl XLVIII a Level One National Security Event. This means that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents will be working 24 hours a day to scan every truck, car or other vehicle that tries to enter the MetLife Stadium complex for any reason.
In addition, all individuals to the site will be checked as well. Agents are looking for smugglers, drugs, terror activity or potential threats.
The agents will also have a mobile unit that will allow them to scan inside vehicles already inside the complex to search for suspicious items and contraband.
Kevin McCabe, chief of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency told Fox News that everything down to individual pieces of food will be scanned by his agents.
The Hamas government in Gaza held a celebration for 13,000 teenagers that have been trained to be terrorist suicide bombers.
Students from grades 10-12 were put into a one-week camp separated by gender. They were all trained in the techniques of Hamas terrorists and how to execute a successful suicide attack on Israeli forces.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and Education Minister Usama Mzeini all gave speeches praising the “new generation of Palestinian combatants.”
“Beware this generation,” Haniyeh said during a portion of the speech targeting Israel. “This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.”
The Hamas leaders made multiple references to a coming war with Israel.
