The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, went before the cameras in Times Square on Wednesday night to reassure the public there was no cause for alarm over an Islamic State video appearing to threaten an attack on the city.
The video, which emerged just days after the multiple attacks on Paris by an Isis terror cell, was “nothing new” and there was “no current or specific threat”, said de Blasio and the NYPD commissioner, Bill Bratton, who spoke alongside him.
The mayor said: “It is an obvious attempt to intimate the people of New York City. The people of New York City will not be intimidated.
“We understand it is the goal of terrorists to intimidate and disrupt our democratic society. We will not submit to their wishes.
“I want to encourage all New Yorkers to continue to go about their business normally. It is important to know there is no credible and specific threat against New York City.”
Bratton reiterated that call and added detail about the nature of the recording which had been received. “To be quite frank with you, there is nothing new about that video. New York obviously remains one of the top terrorist targets in the world. That video – our review of it – looks like it has been hastily produced.
“It is a mish-mash of previously released video. We believe it is a compilation of videos going back to one in August that was directed against Germany, one in October that was directed against Israel and 19 seconds of about a five-and-a-half-minute video that was released today had scenes of New York.”
The video includes a scene that appears to show a suicide bomber making preparations and zipping up a leather jacket, according to a description provided by the Site Intelligence Group, an organisation in Bethesda, Maryland, that tracks militant groups.
The clip shows a brief glimpse of tourist hotspot Times Square, and a suicide bomber holding what appears to be a trigger. Most of the footage is scenes of Paris and the French president, Francois Hollande.
