FBI says it stopped terror plot targeting Los Angeles

By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer

The FBI foiled an alleged terrorist plot targeting Los Angeles starting on New Year’s Eve, federal officials said. This comes as multiple U.S. cities are on heightened alert following a terror attack that left at least 15 dead in Australia. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X on Monday that, recently, the FBI and the Department of Justice “prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot” in Los Angeles and Orange County. 

The “Turtle Island Liberation Front,” which Bondi described as a “pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group,” was allegedly aiming to bomb several targets in California starting on New Year’s Eve. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that four alleged members of the group were arrested. 

“The subjects self-identified as members of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, an extremist group motivated by pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology,” Patel wrote, adding they were allegedly plotting improvised explosive device bombings at five separate locations in the area. 

They were also working to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles and agents, Bondi added. 

A fifth person connected to TILF was arrested by the FBI’s New Orleans office. That individual was allegedly plotting a violent attack, Patel said. 

Four people have been charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

According to an Instagram account connected with TILF, the group repeatedly posts pro-Native American, anti-government, and pro-Palestinian content. The group also includes anti-capitalism messaging and imagery that appears to be sourced from Marxist guerrilla movements. 

Neither Bondi nor Patel listed a motive for the alleged attack plots. 

The arrests come as officials in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and other U.S. cities said they are on heightened alert following a terror attack in Australia’s Bondi Beach that targeted a Hanukkah event on Sunday. 

The Los Angeles Police Department said that more officers will be sent to Jewish schools, synagogues and Hanukkah events across the city. Hanukkah began at sundown on Sunday and will last until Dec. 23. 

Also, the New York Police Department said that it is “deploying additional resources to public Hanukkah celebrations and synagogues out of an abundance of caution,” adding, “as always, if you see something, say something.” 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration listed antifa groups as domestic terrorist organizations, coming about two weeks after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk at a Utah college. In November, the State Department listed several international antifa groups as foreign terrorist organizations. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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