WASHINGTON
An al-Shabaab video urging its supporters to attack Western malls is propaganda designed to instill fear rather than a credible threat against malls, the U.S. said Monday.
The al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group based in Somalia recently released a video urging supporters to undertake attacks against shopping centers around the world, including the Mall of America in the U.S. state of Minnesota.
State Department spokewoman Jen Psaki said that the U.S. is aware of the video but did not know of any specific, credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic commercial shopping center.
"Over the weekend, the FBI and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) also provided law enforcement and other first responders as well as our private sector partners with relevant information regarding the propaganda video," Jen Psaki added.
The video purportedly shows the militant group celebrating its 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 60 people.
The narrator, his face wrapped in a black-and-white scarf called for attacks against shopping malls in Western countries, including Canada's massive West Edmonton Mall, London's famous Oxford Street shopping hub and two malls in the Le Forum des Halles and Les Quatre Temps malls in France.
