A group affiliated to ISIS have posted a shocking image showing an explosion at the top of the third-tallest office tower in Los Angeles.
The Al-Qaeda splinter group usually focus their media activity by threatening terror attacks at New York, Washington, Las Vegas, and large European cities.
But now a new image, obtained by PJ Media, has emerged showing a camouflage-clad jihadist holding an ISIS flag with the evening L.A. skyline in the background.
A large glow of flames photo-shopped coming from the hillside beneath his feet can also be seen in the image.
An ISIS splinter group has posted a shocking image (pictured) showing an explosion at the top of the third-tallest office tower in Los Angeles
The explosion takes place on top of the Aon Center, the 62-story tower at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in the city’s financial district.
The picture also contains the caption: ‘Our promise will soon be fulfilled.’
The coordinated terror attacks in Paris in November 2015 led to L.A. officials assessing threat responses.
Authorities there claimed that they need to focus more on lesser-known gathering places where a few terrorists could carry out a devastating attack.
‘Iconic and symbolic targets are not as high on terrorists’ priority list as killing high numbers of people,’ said Michael Downing, the LAPD’s anti-terrorism deputy chief previously told the Los Angeles Times.
PJ Media reported that the L.A. was included in a previous ISIS warning that ‘there would be a device placed in either Heathrow, LAX or JFK airports.’
The threat coincided with another ISIS attack on a soft target: the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where 22 civilians and two police officers were killed by five terrorists.
‘Terrorists, for the most part, attack soft targets,’ said terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins, who had testified before the Senate about homeland security and Paris.
The explosion takes place on top of the Aon Center, (pictured), the 62-story tower at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in the city’s financial district
The original photo used and photo-shopped by ISIS appears to be from Shutterstock and shows the L.A. skyline lit up at night
‘About 80% of all terrorist attacks are carried out at places without a security perimeter or guards.
‘The presence of a single guard at the soccer stadium stopped a horrific bombing in Paris. Terrorists look for places they don’t have to penetrate or face a challenge.’
Former President George W. Bush said there was a foiled plot by Al Qaeda in 2002 to fly a hijacked airplane into the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.
Bush said the plot had been ‘derailed in early 2002, when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key Al Qaeda operative,’ The New York Times reported.
He added that ‘subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how Al Qaeda hoped to execute it.’
Al-Queda which was founded by Osama Bin Laden (left) had a plan to fly a hijacked plane into the U.S. bank tower (right) in Los Angeles which was foiled by officials
The top U.S. general in the Middle East said this week that he would have counseled President Trump against pulling forces out of Syria had the president consulted him in advance – and that the terror group is not yet defeated.
Gen. Joseph Votel, an Army four-star who heads U.S. Central Command, made comments that were at odds with Trump’s December assertion that the U.S. and its allies had ‘defeated ISIS’ in Syria.
‘When I say, “we have defeated them,” I want to ensure that means they do not have the capability to plot or direct attacks against the U.S. or our allies,’ Votel told CNN
‘They still have this very powerful ideology, so they can inspire,’ he told the network.
Votel has said previously the president did not consult him before announcing the decision to withdraw troops via Twitter.
The move has earned brushback from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who raised concerns about the U.S. abandoning Kurdish allied forces and once again giving a free hand to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.