Mall of America patrons told to be careful amid terror threat

UNITED STATES — Visitors to the Mall of America must be “particularly careful” after a terror group threatened the Minneapolis-area shopping centre, the US Homeland Security secretary said.

Mr Jeh Johnson’s comments during an interview today (Feb 22) on CNN’s State of the Union programme followed the release of a video by the terror group al-Shabaab that called for attacks in Canada, the US and the UK, according to the news network.

“If anyone is planning to go to the Mall of America today, they’ve got to be particularly careful,” Mr Johnson said.

Gunmen from al-Shabaab, based in Somalia, attacked a shopping mall in Kenya in September 2013. At least 67 people died during the attack, which lasted for days. Minneapolis is home to one of the largest Somali populations in the US.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, has more than 500 stores and attracts 40 million visitors a year, about two-fifths of them tourists, according to its website. It’s owned by Triple Five Group, an Edmonton, Alberta-based development company.

Mr Johnson’s interview occurred as funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to lapse on Friday (Feb 27). Such a lapse would trigger a shutdown of non-essential agency operations unless Congress enacts new funds. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner want to use a spending bill to force President Barack Obama to reverse his orders shielding undocumented immigrants from being deported.

Tomorrow, Mr McConnell will try for a fourth time to advance a House-passed Homeland Security spending bill, H.R. 240, that would require Mr Obama to abandon the immigration action he announced in November.

Democrats have blocked the measure three times. They say Congress should fund Homeland Security, which is responsible for immigration and border enforcement, without setting new limits on immigration policy. Democrats have said they are holding firm in defence of the president’s policies. BLOOMBERG