FBI foils July 4 attack of Al-Qaeda supporter

The FBI announced Monday the arrest of a professed supporter of terror group Al-Qaeda who had planned a bomb attack on an Independence Day parade in Cleveland Ohio.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, who also used the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, told an undercover agent that he wanted to load up a van or other vehicles with explosives targeting members of the military and their families during the US national day celebrations on Wednesday.

"His desire: to kill military personnel and their families," said FBI Special agent in charge, Steve Anthony.

Al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Muslims to carry out 'Jihad' against the United States in May after American president Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy to the contested city. 

Last month, a New York grandfather who said he thought joining the Islamic State group would be the best way to help war-struck Syrians was jailed for 15 years.