Reuters/Washington

The US Homeland Security Department has said it was not aware of any specific plot against US shopping malls, backing away from comments by the department’s chief that he takes seriously a threat by Somali-based Islamist militants against the Mall of America in Minnesota and other shopping sites in the West.
Some US and Canadian officials had earlier cast doubt on the credibility of the threat made in a video attributed to Al Shebaab, which appeared to call for attacks on Western shopping areas, specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, London’s Oxford Street and sites in Paris.
Asked on the CNN program State of the Union on Sunday morning about the threat to Mall of America, homeland security secretary Jeh Johnson said: “Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we’ve got to take that seriously.”
He advised people going to the Mall of America, which is one of the world’s largest shopping areas, to be particularly careful.
Hours later, homeland security department spokeswoman Marsha Catron said the department and the FBI had shared information about the video with local law enforcement and “private sector partners.”
“As a general matter, however, we are not aware of any specific, credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic commercial shopping center,” she said in a statement.
One US intelligence official said security officials are indeed worried about the risk of an attack on US soil by a solitary militant, but Al Shebaab as a group has not appeared to gain much traction with most Somalis in the West, including in Minneapolis.
“In balance, I don’t think this video adds much on top of the ubiquitous ‘lone offender’ threat,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
staff sergeant Brent Meyer of Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police said “there is no evidence at this time of any specific or imminent threat to Canadians”. In Britain, a spokesman said London police were aware of the video and were assessing it.
Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall issued statements saying they were implementing extra security measures.
Minnesota is home to a sizeable Somali-American population. US law-enforcement officials have been concerned about the potential for radicalisation among some of the community.
A Minnesota man was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State and lying to federal agents investigating recruitment by militant groups.
Prosecutors said dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them Somali-Americans, have traveled or attempted to travel overseas to support militant groups such as Islamic State or Al Shebaab since 2007.
“This latest statement from al Shebaab reflects the new phase we’ve evolved to in the global terrorist threat, in that you have groups such as Al Shabaab and ISIL publicly calling for independent actors in their homelands to carry out attacks,” Johnson told CNN, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Privately owned Mall of America, located in Bloomington, near Minneapolis, has about 40mn visitors a year, and contributes nearly $2bn in annual economic activity to the state of Minnesota, according to its website. Major stores in the complex include retailers Aeropostale, H&M and Macy’s.
The West Edmonton Mall in Alberta gets about 30.8mn visitors a year, according to its website. Oxford Street is one of London’s busiest shopping areas, home to several large department stores.
It was business as usual at Minnesota’s Mall of America and Canada’s West Edmonton Mall on Sunday, with most people either oblivious to any threat to attack the shopping centres or confident that the risk was too small to worry about.
Shoppers, employees and recreational “mall walkers” were out in full force.
Mall of America (MOA), outside the Twin Cities, and West Edmonton Mall in Alberta issued statements saying they were implementing extra security measures but there were no signs of beefed-up law enforcement at either mall.
At the MOA, one of the largest in the country, hundreds of people turned out for a walk to support the National Eating Disorders Association. The event started before shops opened their doors
Among the participants were Tatum Pugrah, 23, and her boyfriend Nick Disbrowe, also 23. The couple said they were not aware of any special threat but were not entirely surprised when told about the videotape.
“If anyone is going to target anything, it’s the Mall of America,” Disbrowe said.
Clem Jauquet, 57, said he knew about the threat but was not concerned enough to skip his usual early-morning walk around the mall. “I trust the government will protect us from bomb threats,” he said.
The MOA, with 520 stores, a theme park and 50 restaurants, is in an area with one of the largest concentrations of Somalis in the United States. Minnesota’s ethnic Somali population has mushroomed in the last two decades to more than 50,000.
US authorities have been investigating the recruitment of ethnic Somali men into Al Shebaab from the Minneapolis-St Paul area since 2007.
West Edmonton Mall bills itself as the No 1 tourist attraction in the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta. It has more than 800 stores, two hotels and about 100 dining venues.
Hala Haddad, an employee at the mall, said the possibility of an attack would not keep her away from her job.



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