FEAR OF TERROR

'IS selfies' spreading on New York streets

isis_selfie Image of a man wearing what looks like a scarf with an ISIS logo outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Jihadis are spreading chilling selfies of a man brandishing the Islamic State (IS) logo while posing on New York City streets, according to new reports.

The photos were spotted in pro-Islamic State channels on instant messaging app Telegram, according to terror watchdog group Memri.

One shows a man wearing an IS-branded scarf over his face outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art — and right near an New York Police Department (NYPD) security camera. Pedestrians can be seen walking by on the snow-dusted street, New York Post reported.

Another is of someone holding a smartphone with the terror group's logo on its screen in front of the World Trade Centre. The phone-holder appears to be standing near the corner of Houston Street and the West Side Highway.

The NYPD said it was aware of the images and is investigating, but "at this time there are no credible threats related to New York City".

The department would not answer questions about whether it was looking at security footage or what else it was doing to establish whether there was a credible threat, the Post said.

Police see these kinds of photos all the time and they often end up being fakes, law enforcement sources said.

The photos come just weeks after an IS-inspired bomber tried to blow himself up at the Port Authority Bus Terminal during rush hour.

Suspect Akayed Ullah told investigators that he was radicalised through online propaganda.

"Trump you failed to protect your nation," accused Ullah wrote on Facebook right before he detonated the bomb at Port Authority subway station. The suspect posted a statement indicating allegiance to ISIS on Facebook before the attack.

Post the blast, Trump demanded that Congress should end chain migration, the process by which relatives of immigrants can be sponsored for immigration by their relatives, and can, in turn, sponsor other relatives.

Sayfullo Habibullaevich Saipov, 29, who carried out the truck attack before this on Thankgiving day at Times Square had come to the US through the lottery system that allows people from some countries like Uzbekistan and Bangladesh to immigrate without sponsorship or professional qualification.

He also claimed allegiance to the IS. Ullah, who came to the US in 2011, had recently worked as an electrician at a building site and for a while had been a driver.

"America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country," Trump said.

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