Less than a month after it claimed responsibility for the major terror attack on Moscow Concert Hall, which saw at least 139 Russian civilians killed, Islamic State (IS) has threatened to target a list of major football venues.
A post circulated by the Al-Azaim Foundation, the terror group’s de facto media outlet, called for attacks on UEFA Champions League football games ahead of the event’s quarter-finals.
Spanish officials say they have activated all of their “alert” and “response systems” ahead of Manchester City’s match against Real Madrid tonight, on April 7th. Threats have also been made against Arsenal’s home game with Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium, also tonight.
A post shared on social media, featuring an image of an armed man and the words “Kill them all,” serves as a reminder of the terrorist group’s threat to the West. It threatened all of the remaining Champions League venues—the Emirates, the Santiago Bernabeu, the Metropolitano, and the Parc des Princes—with attacks.
UEFA said it was “aware” of the threats but insisted that “all matches are planned to go ahead as scheduled with appropriate security arrangements in place.” It is understood that around 2,000 Spanish police officers and civil guards are being involved in security arrangements for this evening’s Manchester City-Real Madrid clash.
