4 arrested for plotting New Year's Eve bombings in California: U.S. authorities

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Four people accused of plotting New Year's Eve bombings in California have been arrested, U.S. authorities said Monday.

After an intense investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, working with the FBI, "prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot in the Central District of California (Orange County and Los Angeles)," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X.

According to Bondi, the arrested are members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which she described as "a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group."

The group was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year's Eve and also planned to target agents and vehicles with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bondi noted.

"Over the weekend, the FBI disrupted a credible, imminent terrorist threat and arrested four individuals connected to the Los Angeles area," FBI Director Kash Patel said on X.

"The subjects self-identified as members of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front" were allegedly planning coordinated IED (improvised explosive device) bombing attacks on New Year's Eve, targeting five separate locations across Los Angeles, Patel stated.

The FBI in New Orleans also arrested an additional fifth individual believed to be linked to the group for allegedly planning a separate violent attack, the FBI director added.