There is no “specific and credible threat” against New York City, despite a newly released Islamic State video suggesting America’s most populous city is a potential target of attacks such as those in Paris, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday.
Police Commissioner William Bratton agreed with the mayor during an evening news conference by both men outside a police precinct in Times Square, adding that there was nothing new about the video, which he called “hastily produced.”
“There is no credible and specific threat against New York City,” de Blasio said, encouraging New Yorkers to “go about their business” as normal, while remaining watchful.
Islamic State has claimed credit for Friday’s attacks in Paris that killed 129 people in shootings and suicide bombings at a concert hall, restaurants and a soccer stadium in Paris.
The assault on the French capital stirred memories in New York of the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks that felled the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, killing more than 2,600 people.
The Islamic State video, which runs for nearly six minutes, includes a scene that appears to show a suicide bomber making preparations and zipping up a jacket, according to a description provided by SITE Intelligence Group, a Bethesda, Maryland, organisation that tracks militant groups, reports Reuters.
The clip briefly shows Times Square and Herald Square, two Midtown Manhattan crossroads popular with tourists, and a suicide bomber holding what appears to be a trigger.
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