Free Republic

A Canadian member of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a grim warning for the United States that his group is planning a “brilliant attack” on New York City, and claimed that they have thousands of Western prisoners they are willing to behead. In a video conference interview with Vice News, Farah Shirdon (also known as Abu Usamah Somali) announced the plot while discussing the current operations of the terrorist group. “We’ll sure be making attacks in New York soon [with Allah's permission]. A lot of brothers there are mobilizing right now [thanks to Allah],” Shirdon told Vice’s...

The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has risen to more than 3,000, the EU's anti-terrorism chief has told the BBC. Gilles de Kerchove also warned that Western air strikes would increase the risk of retaliatory attacks in Europe. US-led forces have launched more than 200 air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq since August and on Monday began targeting IS in Syria. The UK parliament is due to vote on possible air strikes in Iraq on Friday.