By james art In the wake of some online posts depicting the US capital with the words “you are next” and the recent arrest of an Afghan man, the FBI is on its toes amid growing fears that the Islamic State is planning some kind of terrorist attack in the United States in the election month.
An Afghan man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, arrested by the FBI in Oklahoma, was found to have planned an election day shooting on behalf of the Islamic State terrorist group as the United States prepares for the November presidential election.
Tawhedi admitted that he and his co-conspirator had planned to give up their lives as IS martyrs by open fire on the crowd on election day, according to a report published in The Guardian.
Speaking on the Tauhedi case, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said there was a continuing need to “combat the continuing threat that (IS) and its supporters pose to America’s national security”.
Meanwhile, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said the agency was doing a “great job” in managing the growing threat posed by the resurgent terrorist organisation.
US targets top IS-K hit list
After Tauhedi’s arrest, US officials later said the plot was led by an agent of IS-Khorasan (IS-K), the Afghanistan-based branch.
IS-K also released a propaganda poster in September that put American targets at the top of the hit list.
“[IS-K] recently reiterated its intention to target the U.S. with a poster depicting one of its fighters holding a grenade outside the U.S. Capitol building with the words “you’re next,” said Lucas Weber, who is a senior threat intelligence analyst at the watchdog Tech Against Terrorism.
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“This is further troubling given the branch’s massive attacks against Russia and Iran, leaving the United States as the remaining adversary on this short list for a successful foreign operation,” Weber added.
He stressed that Tauhedi’s arrest hinted at an “upturn” in IS’s plot against the United States.
“This follows a Tajik [IS suspect] arrested in Costa Rica; a Central Asian network coiled in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia; as well as a Canadian-based Pakistani national who allegedly planned an attack on a Jewish center in New York,” Weber said, as reported by The Guardian.
(With information from agencies)
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