As ISIS continues to claim credit for deadly strikes on humanity like the recent Berlin Market Christmas attack and another one held on Coptic Christians while attending Mass in Egypt, they’re urging deranged followers to attack a new target: churches.
Earlier this month members of an unidentified pro-ISIS social media group listed out multiple “hopeful” assaults on American soil. The list includes the more familiar public spaces such as hotels, street markets, coffee shops and now the list has been expanded to include churches.
The ISIS sympathizers on the site shared a link containing the names and addresses of churches across the United States and a request for attacks to be made on the religious institutions, according to a local ABC News affiliate.
The call made to strike put Federal officials on high alert and a request went out to state and local law enforcement to stay mindful and observant over the holiday weekend especially in New York City.
⚡️ “Celebrating The Holidays By Keeping NYC Safe!” #NYPDprotectinghttps://t.co/G8GhSfNAFf
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 25, 2016
On the day before Christmas eve, Dec. 23, three government organizations, The Department of Homeland Security, FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) stated that, it “is intended to remind security planners and first responders to remain vigilant for indications of nefarious operational planning this holiday season.”
The bulletin issued also noted that, “The release of these lists have rarely inspired homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) to conduct plotting-none of which resulted in a successful attack.”
The same day the terror warning was issued by American federal officials, the man behind the Berlin Christmas attack which has left over a dozen people dead and 50 injured was 24-year-old man Anis Amri.
Amri was discovered in Milan, Italy and was claimed dead after a shootout with police.