ISIS stadium threat puts UEFA Champions League soccer teams on alert for quarterfinals

London — Nameless on-line supporters of the Islamic terror group ISIS have issued a menace to soccer stadiums throughout Europe forward of main video games within the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League — European soccer’s greatest membership competitors.

A put up disseminated this week by the pro-ISIS on-line media outlet Al Azaim Basis confirmed graphic imagery of a gunman in a balaclava, with the message, “Kill all of them,” in giant textual content. The put up lists London’s Emirates Stadium, Paris’s Parc de Prince (sic), and Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu as targets.

All three stadiums are set to host main Champions League video games, with tens of hundreds of followers in attendance.

There have been no associated threats conveyed by way of any of the official social media accounts run by or identified to be linked to ISIS.

UEFA, the physique that runs the Champions League competitors, mentioned in a press release despatched to CBS Information on Tuesday that it was “conscious of alleged terrorist threats made in the direction of this week’s UEFA Champions League matches and is carefully liaising with the authorities on the respective venues.”

“All matches are deliberate to go forward as scheduled with applicable safety preparations in place,” the assertion mentioned.

Richard Barnes, a counterterrorism adviser who leads stadium safety for London’s Metropolitan Police, confirmed that the pressure was wanting into the web threats forward of the Champions League recreation between Arsenal and Bayern Munich at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

He instructed CBS Information, nonetheless, that the web threats had been “not a brand new tactic utilized by varied terrorist teams to trigger or increase alarm.”

Barnes mentioned the London police counterterrorism unit was “investigating this and they’re going to even be partaking with inside and exterior companions and stakeholders to make sure this night’s fixture at Emirates Stadium is just not affected.”

French Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin mentioned safety could be “significantly bolstered” round Wednesday’s Champions League recreation between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, within the French capital, in response to the menace, based on the AFP information company.

The threats and heightened safety measures come simply weeks after the bloody assault on the Russian capital’s Crocus Metropolis Corridor, which noticed gunmen storm the live performance venue earlier than setting it on fireplace.

A beforehand unheard-of ISIS Russia department claimed duty for the assault, which left nearly 200 folks lifeless.

It additionally comes simply days after an 18-year-old man from Idaho was arrested and accused of plotting to kill churchgoers in his city within the identify of ISIS, based on courtroom paperwork unsealed earlier this week.

ISIS has a historical past of bloody assaults on European soil, together with the devastating, well-orchestrated assault on a number of places round Paris in 2015. France’s nationwide soccer stadium, simply north of Paris, was the one location exterior the capital metropolis that was attacked by the ISIS militants throughout that siege. It’s not the identical venue that was talked about within the put up on the pro-ISIS web site this week.

CBS Information’ Khaled Wassef contributed to this report.