The ISIS flag was hanging from the side of a truck, officials say it was being used in a training exercise

Mar 23, 2015 14:15 GMT  ·  By

This past weekend, folks in Michigan, US, rightfully freaked out when they saw the flag of terrorist group ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham) swirling in the wind not far from a local military base.

The terrorist group, basically a spin-off of al-Qaeda, counts itself among the world's most infamous. It's only been around for a few years and yet it must be held accountable for the death of thousands of people.

Given ISIS' track record, it should come as no surprise that, when the group's flag made a sudden and unannounced appearance in Michigan, US, people could not help but be concerned.

Fear not, it was a false alarm

According to CBS Detroit, the ISIS flag was spotted close to the US Army Reserve Center, a military base in the city of Southfield, early Sunday morning.

The flag was simply hanging from the side of a truck, casually moving in the wind. Although there was no obvious threat, people didn't really like waking up to this sight.

Soon enough, officials announced that both the flag and the truck had been used in a training exercise and that this was why they were hanging around the US Army Reserve Center.

Apparently, the US military often turns to foreign flags and symbols to make exercises for soldiers more authentic and more like real battlefield conditions.

It was all just a mishap, really

True, the US military is allowed to use props like the flag of terrorist group ISIS when training. Still, the fact remains that such symbols are not supposed to leave the base where they are being used.

Otherwise put, the truck that had the ISIS flag hanging from one of its sides made a mistake when leaving the US Army Reserve Center and venturing into the city of Southfield.

Since it was all just a mishap, military officials had no choice but to apologize for this incident. They promised that, from now on, they would be more careful about what vehicles leave the Southfield base.