US authorities have arrested four people in California suspected of planning terrorist attacks on New Year's Eve in the Los Angeles area. According to law enforcement officials, the plot was thwarted by the FBI before it could be carried out.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the operation targeted several targets in Los Angeles and Orange County, including vehicles and immigration officers. The suspects are accused of planning coordinated attacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
According to prosecutors' documents, the four face charges of possession of destructive devices. FBI Director Kash Patel said that over the weekend the agency had thwarted "an imminent criminal terrorist threat" and arrested the individuals responsible in the Los Angeles area.
"They are suspected of planning coordinated attacks with improvised explosive devices on New Year's Eve, targeting five different locations in Los Angeles," Patel said.
According to the FBI, the suspects have been identified as members of a radical offshoot called the Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), which is considered an extremist group. Authorities also reported the arrest of a fifth person in New Orleans, who was suspected of planning a separate attack.
Attorney General Bondi described the operation as preventing "a massive and horrific terrorist plot" that would have serious consequences.
According to investigations, the plan involved placing backpacks with improvised explosive devices in five different locations, linked to two unidentified American companies, with the aim of detonating them simultaneously at midnight on New Year's Eve.
