2nd LD Writethru: Obama assures Americans no credible threat during Thanksgiving

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday there was no specific, credible threat of a terror plot to the U.S. homeland, as authorities scrambled to quell public jitters about possible terrorist attacks during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

The U.S. administration is taking "every possible step" to keep the country safe, Obama said in a speech at the White House, after meeting with his national security team.

While noting that people should remain vigilant, Obama urged the public to go about their normal activities around the weekend's Thanksgiving holiday.

"We know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland," he said that if there were to be a credible threat, the public would be informed.

With memories of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris still raw, major U.S. cities have beefed up security for the busy travel week in case of a Paris-style attack.

The Islamic State (IS), a militant group that has overrun vast swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria, later claimed responsibility for the bloody Paris carnage that killed at least 129 people and injured hundreds of others.

The president said the U.S. and its allies will continue to fight the IS "to destroy these terrorists and defeat their ideology." Endit