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A new Islamic State video threatens a Paris-style attack on Washington
By Adam Taylor
The Washington Post
Published: November 16, 2015
The tragedy in Paris is roiling U.S. politics, bolstering the Republican right’s anti-immigration demands in the short run and perhaps ultimately enhancing Hillary Rodham Clinton and her credentials as the candidate with experience.
The U.S. military has restricted leave and liberty travel in France for all personnel in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attack in Paris.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday flags stood at half-staff as leaders observed a moment of silence in answer to deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, but allies showed no signs of moving from collective outrage to collective action.
France carries out raids, names more potential attackers
French police raided 168 locations across the country and detained nearly two dozen people as authorities identified more members of a sleeper cell said to be behind the Paris attacks that killed 129 people.
European authorities staged an international manhunt on Sunday for a 26-year-old "dangerous individual," one of three brothers involved in the deadly attacks on Paris, even as an image took shape of a larger network of terrorists that could involve as many as 20 plotters.
A video released by an Islamic State sub-group appears to show militants in Iraq praising the Paris shootings and warning that a similar attack could take place in Washington.
The message, which was distributed by Islamic State-related social network accounts on Monday, claimed to be made by Wilayat Kirkuk, a group based in Salahuddine province, north of Iraq. Its authenticity could not immediately be confirmed.
The six-minute long video begins with a selection of news clips showing the aftermath of the attacks, with French President Francois Hollande condemning them.
Later in the video, a man identified as "Al Ghareeb the Algerian" speaks to the camera, threatening the "crusader" nations in the coalition against the Islamic State. The United States' capital city is specifically singled out.
"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," the man shown says, according to a translation from Reuters.
The same man also said that European nations should expect similar attacks.
"I say to the European countries that we are coming, coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and [gun] silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before," he said.
Friday's attacks in Paris, which have left at least 129 people dead, were claimed by the Islamic State shortly afterwards. French warplanes launched a retaliatory attack on Sunday, dropping 20 bombs on the Islamic State's de facto in Raqqa, Syria.
http://www.stripes.com/a-new-islamic-state-video-threatens-a-paris-style-attack-on-washington-1.379178
