London — Nameless on-line supporters of the Islamic terror group ISIS have issued a menace to soccer stadiums throughout Europe forward of main video games within the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League — European soccer’s greatest membership competitors.
A publish disseminated this week by the pro-ISIS on-line media outlet Al Azaim Basis confirmed graphic imagery of a gunman in a balaclava, with the message, “Kill all of them,” in massive textual content. The publish lists London’s Emirates Stadium, Paris’s Parc de Prince (sic), and Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu as targets.
All three stadiums are set to host main Champions League video games, with tens of hundreds of followers in attendance.
There have been no associated threats conveyed through any of the official social media accounts run by or identified to be linked to ISIS.
Frank Augstein/AP
UEFA, the physique that runs the Champions League competitors, stated in an announcement despatched to CBS Information on Tuesday that it was “conscious of alleged terrorist threats made in the direction of this week’s UEFA Champions League matches and is intently liaising with the authorities on the respective venues.”
“All matches are deliberate to go forward as scheduled with acceptable safety preparations in place,” the assertion stated.
Richard Barnes, a counterterrorism adviser who leads stadium safety for London’s Metropolitan Police, confirmed that the drive was wanting into the net threats forward of the Champions League sport between Arsenal and Bayern Munich at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
He informed CBS Information, nonetheless, that the net threats had been “not a brand new tactic utilized by numerous terrorist teams to trigger or increase alarm.”
Barnes stated the London police counterterrorism unit was “investigating this and they’re going to even be partaking with inside and exterior companions and stakeholders to make sure this night’s fixture at Emirates Stadium just isn’t affected.”
French Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin stated safety could be “significantly strengthened” round Wednesday’s Champions League sport between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, within the French capital, in response to the menace, based on the AFP information company.
The threats and heightened safety measures come simply weeks after the bloody assault on the Russian capital’s Crocus Metropolis Corridor, which noticed gunmen storm the live performance venue earlier than setting it on hearth.
A beforehand unheard-of ISIS Russia department claimed accountability for the assault, which left nearly 200 individuals lifeless.
It additionally comes simply days after an 18-year-old man from Idaho was arrested and accused of plotting to kill churchgoers in his city within the identify of ISIS, based on courtroom paperwork unsealed earlier this week.
ISIS has a historical past of bloody assaults on European soil, together with the devastating, well-orchestrated assault on a number of areas round Paris in 2015. France’s nationwide soccer stadium, simply north of Paris, was the one location outdoors the capital metropolis that was attacked by the ISIS militants throughout that siege. It’s not the identical venue that was talked about within the publish on the pro-ISIS web site this week.
CBS Information’ Khaled Wassef contributed to this report.
