Terror Warning Issued Day Before Explosion at Northern U.S. Border

On Wednesday, there was an explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, which connects New York State and Canada. It is currently not known whether the explosion was an accident, a terrorist attack, or something else. However, reports indicate that a car containing several people exploded, and witnesses have described the explosion as looking like it had been a car bomb detonation.

"The FBI Buffalo Field Office is investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls. The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation. As this situation is very fluid, that's all we can say at this time,” the agency said in a statement.

Though there’s been no official announcement yet on what the cause of the explosion was, on Tuesday, CBS News reported on heightened threats of possible terror attacks in the United States, with New York State being named as a particular focus.

"CBS News has obtained a security alert suggesting an increasing terrorist threat to New York State,” the outlet's Catherine Herridge warned. "The New York State Intelligence bulletin points to Israeli operations against Hamas, and specifically that the increase in civilian casualties raises the likelihood that violent extremist threat actors will seek to conduct attacks against targets in the West, with New York state being a focus."

Herridge continued, "The alert says possible targets include protests and other public events. Police in New York are maintaining a highly visible security presence around potential targets like synagogues. And while there's no specific or credible threat, security for this week's Thanksgiving Day Parade is at a high level with a full deployment of thousands of New York City police officers."

She added, "The intelligence bulletin emphasizes that anti-Palestinian chatter has also been observed on multiple social media channels, with pro-Israeli advocates calling for violence against Palestinians and those who support them.” Herridge noted that “the greatest threat comes from lone actors who take inspiration from violent rhetoric much of it online."

So far, authorities haven’t released an explanation for the explosion at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.

However, yesterday, @CBS_Herridge of CBS News warned of "an increasing terrorist threat to New York State,” in connection to the Israel-Hamas war. pic.twitter.com/wld2PQzn13
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) November 22, 2023