FBI foiled terrorist plans to attack US on July 4

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) thwarted terrorist plans in recent weeks to attack United States during July 4 festivities and warned against potential new threats.

FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said the terrorist plans were "inspired" by Islamic State (IS), though he avoided specifying the number of plans aborted and their targets, Efe news agency reported.

Police operations across the country against IS-linked terrorism have led to dozens of arrests over the last few weeks.

"I do believe our work disrupted efforts to kill people, likely in connection with July 4," said Comey.

The plans, detected and foiled by the FBI, were much less sophisticated and involved the use of pistols and knives.

According to US authorities, these plans were not masterminded by terrorist groups outside the US, although they required assistance from them for execution.

The assistance included recruiting people (who are now detained) and motivating them to carry out attacks on US soil.

The communication with IS members was done using encrypted data online.

In the days leading to July 4 celebrations, the authorities had tightened security and alerted against possible attacks.