ISIS Claims to Have 'Trained Soldiers' in 15 American States, Threatens More Attacks

The Islamic State militant group based in Syria and Iraq has "71 trained soldiers" in 15 U.S. states and that the attack by two gunmen in Garland, Texas, last Sunday was just the start of more ISIS operations in the American homeland in the months ahead, a suspected American jihadist claimed on Tuesday.

The unverified warning was uploaded on a file-sharing site and signed by Abu Ibrahim Al Ameriki, a name that matches the moniker of a shadowy American known to have joined a terrorist group in Pakistan several years ago and who has appeared in propaganda videos before, according to Fox News.

The purported threat said, "Out of the 71 trained soldiers 23 have signed up for missions like Sunday. We are increasing in number. Of the 15 states, 5 we will name... Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Michigan."

Quoting an intelligence source, Fox News said U.S. officials were assessing the threat but expressed doubts that it directly came from the ISIS leadership.

"It may have come from an opportunist such as a low-level militant seeking to further capitalize on the Garland incident," the Fox News source said.

The attack at the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest left the two gunmen dead. Although no mass killing took place, Al Ameriki said the operation was a success.

"The disbelievers who shot our brothers think that you killed someone untrained, nay, they gave you their bodies in plain view because we were watching," according to his post.

ISIS earlier claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack in Texas, describing the two dead gunmen as "two soldiers of the caliphate."

Last February, F.B.I. Director James Comey said the FBI was investigating suspects with ties to ISIS in 49 states.

"We are focused keenly on who would be looking to travel to join this band of murderers who will have come back from Iraq and Syria and to the United States," said Comey in a speech in Mississippi. "We have opened cases all over the place focused on this threat, so it is not ... a Washington thing – it is something we focus on throughout the F.B.I."

The new warning said more attacks will be done in the U.S. in the next six months.

"The attack by the Islamic State in America is only the beginning of our efforts to establish a wiliyah [province] in the heart of our enemy," the warning said. "Our aim was the khanzeer Pamela Geller and to show her that we don't care what land she hides in or what sky shields her; we will send all our Lions to achieve her slaughter."

Geller, a political activist and commentator known for her anti-Islamic views, was the alleged target by the two gunmen in Texas over the weekend.

A U.S. intelligence source said, "The U.S. takes any threat to its citizens and our national security seriously, and we expect ISIL and its supporters to continue their efforts to incite fear and encourage lone wolf attacks around the world."