ISIS blog targets Times Square

TIMES SQUARE (WABC) -- It could be the most photographed place on earth, the crossroads of the world, teeming with tourists Tuesday night and watched over by police offices, armed to the teeth.

It's nothing out of the ordinary, this is the new normal.

But this week one of those photographs made its way to a very scary place.

A blog, managed by ISIS was urging lone wolf followers to build a bomb and detonate it right there.

"So now we're going to have to watch. Going to have to watch," said Ali Miass, a sidewalk vendor.

Sidewalk vendor Ali Miass knows a thing or two about lone wolf bombers. Four years ago, he nearly died in the very spot he stands, when a car started smoking, he and a fellow vendor flagged down a cop on horseback.

The bomb squad detonated the device before it could do any harm. Investigators linked the bomb to a U.S. citizen with ties to the Taliban.

Four years later, it's ISIS that's the threat. Just Tuesday, prosecutors in upstate New York indicted American citizen Mufid Elfgeeh, for allegedly plotting with ISIS to kill Americans who'd served in Iraq.

Elfgeeh, arrested back in May, lives in Rochester. A day's drive from Times Square.

"We are quite concerned as you would expect with the capabilities of ISIS," Police Commissioner William Bratton said.

Tuesday afternoon, Police Commissioner William Bratton said he's aware of no specific plots against the city, but he acknowledged ISIS is more threatening even than al Qaeda, because of its relentless efforts to use social media to recruit followers.

And while all those cops in Times Square may look like a tourist attraction, Bratton says they speak to a horrifying reality.

"We're staying ahead of it, we're focused on it, and we're as prepared as any entity can be to deal with the threats, but the reality is we are living in a new era of potential terrorism," Bratton said.