US lawmakers warn terrorism has gone 'viral' with growing jihad-inspired terror attacks

In the wake of last week's attack in Texas, top American officials and lawmakers have reportedly raised an alarm over the growing threat of jihad-inspired terror attacks against the U.S.

While noting that there has been an uptick in the stream of threats, Texas GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that the authorities were seeing these directives on almost a daily basis. He added, "It's very concerning. Terrorism has gone viral," reported Fox News.

He also said that the terror threat was "one of the highest that" he had ever seen and warned that similar incident could occur again in future.

The comments followed May 3 attack by two gunmen outside an exhibition showcasing Prophet Muhammad's cartoons in Garland, Texas. Tweets by one of the two gunmen killed by police in the attack appeared to link him to radical Islamic terror groups.

While commenting on the terror attack, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey had said on Thursday that the incident highlighted the difficulties faced by the agency as social media facilitated communication between terror groups and potential homegrown extremists.

He had also said that thousands of English-speakers on Twitter, including many in the U.S., followed the Islamic State (IS), which was steering them to websites that allow for encrypted communications that can be harder for law enforcement officials to access.

Comey noted that the terror outfit had also been urging followers to travel to Syria and join the ranks of the terror group but if they can't do that, they can kill where they are.

He added that the siren song often sat in the pockets and on mobile phones of the people who followed the terror group on Twitter. "It's almost as if there's a devil sitting on the shoulder, saying 'Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill,' all day long," said Comey.