|
 Some U.S. and Canadian officials had earlier cast doubt on the
credibility of the threat made in a video attributed to al Shabaab,
which appeared to call for attacks on Western shopping areas,
specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in
Canada, London's Oxford Street and sites in Paris.
Asked on the CNN program "State of the Union" on Sunday morning
about the threat to Mall of America, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh
Johnson said: "Anytime a terrorist organization calls for an attack
on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously."
He advised people going to the Mall of America, which is one of the
world's largest shopping areas, to be particularly careful.
Hours later, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Marsha Catron
said the department and the FBI had shared information about the
video with local law enforcement and "private sector partners."
"As a general matter, however, we are not aware of any specific,
credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic
commercial shopping center," she said in a statement.
 One U.S. intelligence official said security officials are indeed
worried about the risk of an attack on U.S. soil by a solitary
militant, but al Shabaab as a group has not appeared to gain much
traction with most Somalis in the West, including in Minneapolis.
"In balance, I don't think this video adds much on top of the
ubiquitous 'lone offender' threat,” said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
Staff Sergeant Brent Meyer of Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police
said "there is no evidence at this time of any specific or imminent
threat to Canadians." In Britain, a spokesman said London police
were aware of the video and were assessing it.
Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall issued statements saying they
were implementing extra security measures.
Minnesota is home to a sizeable Somali-American population. U.S.
law-enforcement officials have been concerned about the potential
for radicalization among some of the community.
A Minnesota man was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to
support Islamic State and lying to federal agents investigating
recruitment by militant groups.
[to top of second column] |
Prosecutors said dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul
area, many of them Somali-Americans, have traveled or attempted to
travel overseas to support militant groups such as Islamic State or
al Shabaab since 2007.
"This latest statement from al Shabaab reflects the new phase we’ve
evolved to in the global terrorist threat, in that you have groups
such as al Shabaab and ISIL publicly calling for independent actors
in their homelands to carry out attacks," Johnson told CNN, using an
acronym for Islamic State.
Privately owned Mall of America, located in Bloomington, near
Minneapolis, has about 40 million visitors a year, and contributes
nearly $2 billion in annual economic activity to the state of
Minnesota, according to its website. Major stores in the complex
include retailers Aeropostale <ARO.N>, H&M <HMb.ST> and Macy's
<M.N>.
The West Edmonton Mall in Alberta gets about 30.8 million visitors a
year, according to its website. Oxford Street is one of London's
busiest shopping areas, home to several large department stores.
Al Shabaab was behind a 2013 attack on the high-end Westgate
shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya that killed 67 people, raising fears
about mall safety around the world.
(Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Mark Hosenball in
Washington, Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto and Todd Melby in
Bloomington, Minnesota; Editing by Robin Pomeroy, Stephen Powell,
Mohammad Zargham and Frances Kerry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
