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the streets, nobody's safe." this is when they want to beat people down. this is a moment of fear, so they want to try and strengthen that fear by latching onto terrorist attacks like this. would that not be something that people should maybe take some comfort in knowing? that this isn't a larger plot? or should we be concerned perhaps the opposite, that it is? >> there's a couple things to keep in mind. first, this is the site that isis has returned to again and again. there was an attack on the london bridge back in june of 2017, there was an attack in the nearby westminster bridge on march 2017. as you all know, the trump administration has destroyed the physical caliphate. but there are roughly 18 to 20,000 isis terrorists who have melted into an insurgency in that syria-iraq battle state. if they still retain some relevance and capability to target the west, their leader,
apparently the police had seen some sort of hoax expose of device attached to this man's race. a belt. that's when they asked everyone to get off of him, shots were fired, he was killed there at the scene. so now the information is coming and whether he was part of some sort of caliphate, where isis is possibly recruiting others, or if he was a lone wolf or he in fact acted alone. i want to bring everybody back up on the couch. it was very quick that they deemed this a terrorist attack. within moments. terror can be deemed everything. you it don't have to have an islamic terrorist ambition. if you go out and your attempt is to come multiple people, that's an act of terror. this one is a little different. >> david: they didn't go to a mass attack, which is what we sometimes hear from the u.k. authorities. they went right to terror. i think that is the point. they had identified elements. i think dagen mentioned on one of the brakes, we've seen this before. very similar elements in the last attack. it was easy to draw that distinction. the guy running away from the
i will keep you updated on this as i get more. one thing we do know is that since the death of isis leader al-baghdadi, the group is largely gone underground in iraq and syria and turkey. the head of iraqi intelligence said last week that nine isis chiefs are currently hiding out in turkey trying to regenerate their leadership there. julie? >> julie: gillian turner, thank you. keep us apprised of any late-breaking info. we'll come back to you. i want to bring in former cia station chief in fox news contributor dan hoffman, who joins us by phone. what is your reaction to gillian turner's reporting that isis is pledging new members dug this london attack? let me remind you, president trump this week talking about how a new leader of isis has not reared its ugly head since baghdadi was killed. in fact, number two didn't come forward, and he joked about there being a number three not wanting to come forward. what does this say about isis? >> isis continues to be very
of the police and the emergency services in what they have done. i would urge everybody, of course, to be vigilant. one cannot help but think back to what happened in 2017, in the same part of the city. i hope very much that people will be able, as fast as possible, to go about their normal business. >> reporter: finally, this happened in the middle of a general election campaign -- >> julie: here's an interview with boris johnson, the prime minister, basically saying the terrorist has been contained and that they will not bow down to this kind of terrorism. so it looks as though the situation is under control. the investigation continues. whether or not this lone wolf terrorist worked with anyone else, if he was representing isis, ices has come out and put up pictures and basically saying that they are trying to come and recruit new supporters. at this point, no correlation between the two periods of this
man could have been working on his own. >> dagen: this is something the counterterrorism policing team in britain has been aware of, on the lookout for, despite britain lowering the terrorist threat level just earlier this month to substantial from seve severe. neil basu, the head of the counterterrorism policing force, we heard from earlier, said at that point that there were still 800 live counterterrorism investigations at that point. 24 attack plots have been thwarted since the westminster attack back in march of 2017. but they were very concerned about lone wolf attacks. the reason the terror threat had been lowered is because of the advancements against isis and the islamic states, that we and other nations had made in the middle east. their resources have been deprived in britain, but they wilwere still concerned about ts type of lone wolf. >> david: these are effective for them. this is what keeps them
>> julie: you are also hearing, i understand, but never terrorist-related develop it at the same time. can you tell us about that? >> that's right, this is exclusive to fox news right now as they are continuing to hear more about this attack in london. there is also developing news regarding isis at the same time. not necessarily, as far as we know, related right now. according to my intelligence sources, isis pledged new recruits today during the london bridge attack as it was unfolding this morning. isis media arm have new photos just after 9:00 eastern. that's after the attacks were unfolding. isis is claiming these photos sure their supporters in the country of azerbaijan pledging loyalty to the group's new so-called caliphate in hiding. fox news hasn't independent lee verify these photos. we are going over them now. my sources tell me isis is claiming based on these photos that they are having success setting up a new province in azerbaijan.
u.k. and across europe. you remember, in france. at that point the threat level, when isis was still strong, the caliphate was taken to the very highighest. that means an attack is imminent. he remained at that critical level for a few years until two weeks ago when it was released to severe. that means an attack is highly likely. we don't yet know what will happen to them attack level, whether it goes up or not. coming back to the event itself, a number of passersby commented. i want you to have a listen to some of the eyewitness accounts that we got. have a listen. >> i heard shouts, it was a fight. that was the first sort of noise that i heard. then i heard "get back," and two gunshots. in that order. what was going through my mind was just "run." i didn't know which direction the gunshots were being fired,
al-baghdadi, whom the trump administration successfully targeted, just recently last month, he called on isis followers to pick up whatever weapon you have on launched attacks against the west. so they've got these potential for lone wolf terrorists. that's why it's so important for us, when you see something, say something. we saw a lot of very alert bystanders there take action before the police did. i thought that was quite notable. >> julie: dan hoffman, thank you very much for talking to us. we have just confirmed, by the may, prime minister boris johnson will be coming out and holding a news conference. he has been detailed in person with all of the latest facts by the assistant commissioner for counterterrorism, we heard from earlier today, confirming that, indeed, at this point, the lone wolf terrorist has been shot and killed on the scene. the apprehended and after several bystanders had jumped in and got the attack weapon, that being a knife that he used to stab several. subdued him, had everybody pull off, shot him dead.
media-savvy. there's a couple excavations for this. one is that they saw this attack taking place and they had some media-ready scenes already filmed of these recruits, as gillian turner noted, pledging allegiance to isis. they thought now might be the right time to show it for maximum effect. it's also possible that this lone wolf terrorist, who launched today's attack, i have been radicalized online. might have been contacted, might have been in contact with isis before, and that isis may have some foreknowledge of today's attack and thought to gain maximum benefit for it. >> julie: isn't it likely, though, that any time there is linked to any kind of terror attack that it's the cowards? the isis terrorists that are not actually related to this attack, coming forward and taking responsibility for trying to, i guess, get notoriety? so this is that moment where they can say, "wow, isis is not weakening. in fact, isis is still strong and they still have numbers on
>> she's saying when they come, the isis fighters come in waves. not just one and two they try and infiltrate but 40, 50 fighters will come and try and swarm into the building. >> reporter: she told me isis was aiming to kill everyone who was fighting here, especially the female fighters. but we were resolute, and we fought back. "we defended this place with our lives until the last drop of blood," azima said. "we lost many comrades." kobani turned out to be the beginning of a new kind of war for america in the middle east. with the kurds doing the fighting. over the course of five years, the kurds expanded their ranks and partnered with elite american special forces. together they were devastatingly lethal. killing tens of thousands of isis fighters. as centcomm commander, general