FBI warns of potential ‘copycat or retaliatory’ New Orleans attacks
FBI warns of potential ‘copycat or retaliatory’ New Orleans attacks
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Agency and DHS report possible threat from extremists in response to attack that killed more than a dozen people. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday warned of a potential public safety threat from violent extremists in response to the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“The FBI and DHS are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks due to the persistent appeal of vehicle ramming as a tactic for aspiring violent extremist attackers. Previous attackers inspired by foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) who have conducted vehicle attacks in the United States and abroad have used rented, stolen, and personally owned vehicles, which are easy to acquire,” the agencies said in a statement.
The New Year’s Day attack killed more than a dozen people after a truck was rammed into a crowd of revelers by 42-year-old US military veteran, Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Sign up to Headlines US. Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning.
after newsletter promotion. In the days after the attack, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the US National Counterterrorism Center also warned of potential copycat attacks. The warning noted that vehicle-ramming attacks are “attractive for aspiring assailants given vehicles’ ease of acquisition and the low skill threshold necessary to conduct an attack”.
