Hundreds in MA and RI listed on ISIS affiliate hit list

July 18, 2016 10:30 pm

Hundreds of government employees in Rhode Island and Massachusetts were named on a hit list tied to an ISIS cyber affiliate over the weekend.

Authorities say that most of the employees work in some sort of fiscal or budgetary capacity. There were 77 Rhode Islander’s listed and more than 260 from Massachusetts.

Massachusetts State Police issued a statement Monday saying that the lists appear to have been drawn from publicly available, open source sites. The information listed for people includes mainly work addresses and phone numbers.

"There’s no evidence historically that these lists have generates any follow up,” said Governor Charlie Baker.

State Police in Massachusetts and Rhode Island say there is no intelligence to suggest an immediate threat. Both departments emphasize that lists like this are common, pointing to previous ones mentioning military and law enforcement personnel. No one named on a previous lists in either state has been targeted.

And, with a heightened fear amongst the public following several recent attacks both involving ISIS and targeting police Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare saying every threat needs to be taken seriously.

"International terrorism has landed here in the United States as well and we never think it would happen here in Rhode Island but you know Dallas didn’t think it would happen there,” said Pare.

Again, police say that they do not view this as a credible threat. They are; however, warning people to be extra vigilant and report any suspicious activity.