New York City on alert for possible al-Awlaki revenge attacks

2011-10-01 07:17:02 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Police in New York City are on alert for the possibility that followers of senior al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki want to attempt revenge attacks after he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Yemen on Friday, police commissioner Ray Kelly said.

U.S.-born radical Islamic preacher Anwar al-Awlaki was among a number of al-Qaeda members who were killed on Friday morning in an airstrike near the Yemeni town of Khashef in Al Jawf governorate. Samir Khan, one of the editors of al-Qaeda's English-language online magazine, was also killed.

Kelly welcomed the news that both al-Awlaki and Khan were killed, calling it a signature event. "Having transformed the regional al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula into a terrorist organization with global reach, he (al-Awlaki) targeted Americans like no other, and he was a powerful recruiter of terrorists in the United States," Kelly said.

Regarding Khan, the NYPD police commissioner added: "Khan had extensive contacts in New York City and published the English language Inspire Magazine, which instructed lone wolves on how to build bombs at home, and in the most recent issue identified Grand Central Station as a target."

Kelly referred to a page in Inspire's seventh issue which promotes an upcoming article from al-Awlaki titled 'Targeting The Populations Of Countries That Are At War With The Muslims.' The page uses a picture of New York's Grand Central Terminal as background.

Because al-Awlaki's contacts in New York City, Kelly said police will remain on alert for attacks. "We know al-Awlaki had followers in the United States including New York City, and for that reason we remain alert to the possibility that someone might want to avenge his death," Kelly said.

U.S. officials believe al-Awlaki was previously involved in the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it was landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan. He is also believed to have directed the failed attempt to blow up U.S. cargo planes in 2010 and was in close contact with gunman Nidal Malik Hasan who killed 13 and injured 29 at Fort Hood in Texas.

The group itself was also behind the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 when nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes before crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-01

Didn't we have all this hysterical scaremongering after they " killed " Bin Laden ? And the anniversary of 9/11 ?

They do like to keep everyone scared don't they ?

They do like to keep everyone scared don't they ?

Cant appropriate funds for war preemptive actions

without a healthy dose of fear

I think they had a good reason for the alert:

Regarding Khan, the NYPD police commissioner added: "Khan had extensive contacts in New York City and published the English language Inspire Magazine, which instructed lone wolves on how to build bombs at home, and in the most recent issue identified Grand Central Station as a target."