Six Middle Eastern men sporting paramilitary wear were seen performing military-style exercises at a Long Island beach before the Labor Day weekend, a source told Headlines and Global News (HNGN.COM) on condition of anonymity. The report comes a week after U.S. intelligence officials confirmed an increase of chatter among Islamist terror networks ahead of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Two Wantagh, N.Y., residents witnessed six Middle Eastern males at Field 6 of the Jones Beach State Park around 6 p.m. Friday. Wearing paramilitary clothes, the men who appeared to be Arabic were allegedly conducting training exercises similar to those used in the military, including squatting, running with tools above their heads and chanting - repeatedly - what they and at least one other beach goer understood to be Arabic declarations.
Specifically, the unidentified males were reported to be carrying heavy items, like poles and wood that at first glance looked like rifles, the witness said. While initially practicing these military-style exercises, both in the sand and the water, at Field 6 of the Jones Beach State Park, the group later moved to an area near Jones Beach State Park Theater, the anonymous source said.
However, New York State Park Police said they hadn't heard of any such reports. "Nothing at all. We don't have any information on anything here," an official spokesman said.
"As described, the exercise were definitely military style," says Neil Collins, a retired veteran marine with special training. "You train on the beach because the shifting sand and tides build strength and balance."
"Either these men planned the exercise to intimidate people during one of the busiest beach going weekends of the year or they did it to conduct a test to see how overt they had to be before getting noticed," added Collins. "People are in their own little worlds and you'd be surprised by how many people fail to see what is happening around them when they're busy having fun and looking at their smartphones. Maybe that's why there's no police report. Information like that, though, is pure gold when it comes to military strategy."
Although the residents, who are believed to be in their 60's, chose to report the information to HNGN, they did not go to the police for fear of having their names become part of an official report that could lead terrorists to their home, they said. They told HNGN that they wanted to get the word out but in a way that would not risk their lives. Another anonymous source that was spoken to at Field 6 of the Jones Beach State Park reported witnessing similar activity on Tuesday August 26 at about the same time in the evening.
Meanwhile, the witness accounts wouldn't seem too surprising in knowledge of the activities carried out by popular terrorist Jihad camps in the United States belonging to Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a Pakistan Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda related branch. Sprawled across the country, the 22-site network of terrorist training villages has its headquarters located in the well-known "Islamberg" compound in rural New York.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra, also known as Muslims of America (MOA), have been involved in at least 10 murders, one disappearance, three firebombings, one attempted firebombing, two explosive bombings and one attempted bombing. Similar to the exercises witnessed on Jones Beach State Park, two significant videos explicitly feature MOA members performing guerrilla-style training in New York camps.
Earlier this week, Judicial Watch warned of an imminent terrorist attack on the United States after it was learned that the Mexican border city of Juarez had been occupied as an operating location by Islamic terrorists who are planning to use car bombs or other vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.
