Story highlights No further details were immediately available about how the plots were thwarted

"Dozens" of people in the U.S. are communicating with ISIS terrorists overseas, FBI director says

Washington (CNN) FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that the bureau thwarted ISIS terrorist plots linked to the Fourth of July holiday that were intended "to kill people in the United States."

He would not discuss the number or nature of the plots, but earlier Thursday, U.S. officials told CNN that the thwarted plots included targets "coast to coast," and in fitting with calls by ISIS to attack in any way possible, they were unsophisticated, relying on guns, knives and other weapons.

Also fitting with recent patterns, investigators believe the plots, though not directed by overseas terror groups providing specific means of attack or specific targets, were "enabled" by actors abroad, including recruiting the suspects and encouraging them to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.

No further details were immediately available about how the plots were thwarted.

Speaking to reporters at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, Comey said the FBI is seeing a "mix" of ISIS fighters directing and inspiring people in the U.S. to launch an attack.