The uncut video lasts for almost six minutes and includes Times Square and Herald Square, two Midtown Manhattan crossroads popular with tourists.
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Armed NY City police officers with the special operation division Strategic Response Group stand in front of the U.S. Armed Forces Career Center at Times Square in NY, November 18, 2015.
Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that tracks terror groups, said: “Footage of NY shown in the ISIS video was taken from a video released by the group in April of this year. While some of the video footage is not new, the video reaffirms the message that NY City remains a top terrorist target”, the statement said. “We will not submit”.
“It looks like it’s been hastily produced”, said Bill Bratton, NYC police commissioner.
City leaders are urging calm and telling New Yorkers to go about their lives amid the Islamic State’s video threat to attack the city.
John Miller, who heads the NY Police Department’s intelligence and counterterrorism bureaus, said in a TV interview that members of the Islamic State group are sophisticated marketers.
The mayor of NY said what we heard said many times back in 2001 after 9-11.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton also attended the press conference, and said, “Quite frankly, there is nothing new about that video…”
NY officials responded to an ISIS video specifically threatening NY. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that from the ISIS video, they surmised that the terrorists intend to strike at St. Peter’s Basilica and other historical monuments in Rome and Milan. “It’s crucial that people go about their normal business recognizing the NYPD is providing extraordinary protection for the people of this city”. We cannot be intimidated.
Governer Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that after the attacks in Paris he directed state agencies to “enhance their preparedness”.
“They’ve started rolling out on our streets to reassure our folks and to be in places that are well traveled – you know, busy parts of the city like Times Square and other locations”.
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No one seriously expects ISIS to release actual video prep of their targets. De Blasio added that they have launched a task squad equipped with 500-plus people with the sole goal of countering terrorism in the city.
