New York – NYPD Commish Kelly Tell Chiefs From Around The US: Terrorists Gaining Momentum

New York – New York police commissioner Ray Kelly warned Wednesday that the recent terrorist attacks in Boston and London may have created the momentum for more terrorist attacks around the world.

“We are concerned that the success, from a terrorist point of view, of the latest attacks in Boston and London, coupled with the notoriety they‘ve received, could inspire even more attempts in venues beyond major cities,” Kelly was quoted as saying at a meeting in Houston, Texas by The New York Post newspaper.

Kelly said the United States remains at great risk because of an “enduring threat” by al-Qaeda militants, who he noted can inflict major damage using crude and home-made weapons.

In the recent London attack, two suspects killed a British soldier with a knife and police have broadened their investigation to a wider ring of suspects.

At the twin Boston Marathon bombings in April, two brothers who immigrated with their family from the Caucusus used simple pressure-cooker devices packed with explosives, nails and metal pellets to kill three people, maim dozens and cause multiple limb amputations among the victims.

The Texas gathering was sponsored by the FBI National Executive Institute and the Major City Chiefs Conference. Kelly warned that medium-size US cities, like Boston, are now in the “cross-hairs of terrorists.”

Al-Qaeda has “allies and affiliates” across Africa and the Middle East, including groups like Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen and Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb in Algeria, Kelly noted. “They send Americans back home to attack us here,” he said.

In one case in 2009, Najibullah Zazi, a New York native of Afghan origin, was trained overseas and returned to try to plot attacks on New York subways in 2009. But police arrested Zazi and his accomplices before he was able to carry out his plan.

Kelly said big terrorism plots with the potential for catastrophic consequences are easier to spot than small ones like the ones in Boston and London.