FBI thwarts ‘potential terrorist attack’ in Michigan, director says
FBI Director Kash Patel announced that multiple subjects were arrested in connection with an alleged plot targeting the Halloween weekend, as local police reassure the public.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel, announced on Friday that the agency successfully thwarted a “potential terrorist attack” planned to take place in the northern state of Michigan over the Halloween weekend.
"This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend," Patel stated in a post on the social media platform X.
The FBI director confirmed that more details regarding the alleged plot would be made public at a later time.
In a related development, the police department in Dearborn, a city located west of Detroit, issued a statement on Facebook confirming that the FBI had conducted operations in the Dearborn area early Friday morning. "We want to assure our residents that there is no threat to the community at this time," the department said.
The announcement of the thwarted plot highlights the continued vigilance of US authorities against terrorism, a threat brought into sharp focus by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, one of the most devastating terrorist acts on American soil.
On that day, 19 terrorists from the extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, struck the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, in Arlington, Virginia, causing a partial collapse of the building's western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was initially headed toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,977 people, not including the 19 hijackers. Thousands more were injured or suffered long-term illnesses from inhaling toxic debris.
In response, the US launched the “War on Terror,” leading to the invasion of Afghanistan to dismantle al-Qaeda and overthrow the Taliban regime, which had harbored the extremist group. Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, later claimed responsibility for the attacks. After nearly a decade, bin Laden was located in Pakistan and killed by US Navy SEALs in May 2011.
The swift action by the FBI in Michigan demonstrates the high alert level maintained by US law enforcement agencies to prevent such attacks.
