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FBI Says It Foiled Planned New Year's Eve Terrorist Attack in This City

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  December 15, 2025 12:30 PM

The FBI said on Monday that it foiled a terrorist plot set for New Year's Eve in California.

Attorney General Pam Bondi made the announcement in a Monday post on X. “After an intense investigation, the Department of Justice, working with our @FBI, prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot in the Central District of California (Orange County and Los Angeles),” she wrote.

Members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which Bondi describes as “as far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti capitalist group” were “preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve.”

Bondi further explained that the group “also planned to target ICE agents and vehicles.”

TILF bills itself as an organization dedicated to the “liberation” of Turtle Island, a term some Native Americans use for North America and of colonized people on a global scale. Its members typically use pro-Palestinine mesaging and anti-capitalist and anti-law enforcement rhetoric to push its agenda.

From Fox News Digital:

The FBI told Fox News Digital that the members self-identified as part of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), an extremist group motivated by pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology. 

According to the FBI, they were allegedly planning coordinated bombing attacks on New Year’s Eve using improvised explosive devices, targeting five separate locations across Los Angeles.

The agency said the four were arrested in Lucerne Valley, where they were believed to be preparing to test explosive devices ahead of the planned attacks. They have each been charged with conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.

The FBI said Monday that a fifth individual believed to be connected to the same TILF extremist group was arrested in New Orleans for allegedly planning a separate attack.

A TILF Instagram account said its founding chapter is in Los Angeles, and its goal is to free "Turtle Island," an Indigenous name used to refer to North America, from the "illegal American empire." 

"Free Palestine. Free Hawaii. Free Puerto Rico," the account posted. "Freeing the world from American imperialism is the only way to a safe and peaceful future," it continued.

This might have been the group’s first foray into political violence, as there are no reports of its members resorting to such methods previously. So far, it is unclear whether the suspects’ alleged plot was a part of the organization or if these individuals acted separately.