New terrorist recruiting video released, encourages attacks in U.S.
ABC7 I-TEAM INVESTIGATION
ISIS and Al Qaeda are apparently looking for a recruiting bump from the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting, the I-Team has learned.
Both groups are encouraging new jihadist attacks on U.S. targets -- continuing an internet effort that began six years ago with Chicago in the crosshairs.
In one terror video released on Monday, the Orlando nightclub massacre is celebrated and street scenes of Las Vegas and San Francisco have caught the attention of law enforcement.
The nearly 10-minute ISIS video includes shots of the Las Vegas strip near Caesars Palace, which appears to have been shot from a pedestrian bridge over Las Vegas Boulevard, as well as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and
the second-tallest skyscraper in the financial district.
"I think Vegas, San Francisco, need to lean in and pay attention here," said Scott Mann, who runs the Stability Institute, a counterterror non-profit.
Mann is a retired Green Beret and Army Special Forces, who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"ISIS wants to be in your backyard, in the shrubs, watching your kids on the swingset, that's what they want you thinking when you think about ISIS and anybody is fair game for that," Mann said.
On Monday, San Francisco police told the I-Team they spoke to the FBI and take all threats seriously but that there are no known credible threats to the Bay Area. Las Vegas Metro police also said they're "not looking at this photo as a credible threat," that it is an "attempt by the terrorist group to inspire and motivate other lone actors."
"They should be concerned because ISIS is not just about spewing things out, Al Qaeda isn't either but, when ISIS tells you they're going to do something they typically do it, they don't mince words," Mann said.
Chicago tourists seemed unaware Monday that the city has been depicted twice in terror recruiting magazines in the past six years -- threats never carried out.
READ: Al Qaeda post-Orlando Directive
The latest Al Qaeda special edition encourages more attacks like the one in Orlando, but urges future jihadists to target the "Anglo-Saxon community."
The Al Qaeda directive also urges one-man jihadists to not rely only on guns, as we saw in Orlando, but to also use bombs that will do more damage and leave fewer survivors.
One additional danger, Mann said, may be the tendency of public officials to downplay what happened in Orlando as a one-off event motivated by gay hatred. He said it is obviously an ISIS-inspired terror attack.
