DHS warns of new terror threats at US malls
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned of new terrorist threats in the country following a call by Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab terror group to target Western malls.
"Anytime a terrorist organization calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Sunday in an interview with CNN.
Johnson advised people going to the Mall of America in Minnesota, which is one of the world's largest shopping centers, "to be particularly careful."
"I'm not telling people to not go to the mall," he said Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press. "I think that there needs to be an awareness."
Earlier on Sunday, some US and Canadian officials had questioned the credibility of the threat made in a video attributed to al-Shabab, which called for attacks on Western shopping centers, particularly the Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, and sites in London and Paris.
The Somali-based militant group was behind a 2013 terrorist attack on the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya that killed 67 people, raising fears about mall safety around the world.
This has raised fears of a repetition of the attacks in the West by homegrown terrorists. al-Shabab has carried out attacks in neighboring Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti, but has never operated outside Africa.
Johnson seized on the new threat to pressure Congress to avert a partial shutdown of his department and agree to a funding deal. Congress has only five days left to pass a budget for DHS to avoid a partial shutdown of the agency.
“It’s absurd that we’re even having this conversation about Congress’s inability to fund homeland security in these challenging times,” Johnson told CNN. On ABC, he said “it’s imperative that we get it resolved.”
Republican lawmakers are refusing to pass a budget for DHS unless it includes measures to repeal President Barack Obama’s executive actions that would protect millions of undocumented immigrants from being deported.
The presidential order will allow about 4 million undocumented immigrants to stay and work legally in the US. But a federal court ruling has temporarily delayed Obama's orders. Some lawmakers are hoping that the ruling might provide an escape from the legislative impasse.
Last week, US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said he was prepared to let DHS funding run out. The agency will have to furlough about 30,000 employees if Congress fails to pass the $40 billion spending bill by Friday.
AHT/HRJ
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