Days after the Islamic State Khorasan Province carried out an attack on Moscow’s concert hall, a US counter-terrorism official warned that ISIS-K could carry out a similar strike on the American soil by crossing country’s border.
According to Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) officials, they apprehended 15 suspected terrorists at the southern border in 2021, 98 in 2022 and 169 in 2023.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a current federal official told The Post that the ultra-violent branch of the ISIS-K is becoming “bolder” and that its members would try to take advantage of the disarray at the US-Mexico border in order to choose a “bigger” target.
A source said that “an attack on US soil is definitely a possibility” in a bid to convey a message.
This comes amid concerns over hundreds of individuals from the nations are crossing the border and moving to a place where ISIS-K is actively recruiting people.
‘And they’re bold and they’re always looking for targets’
Stressing that the US authorities are considering the threat of a domestic ISIS-K attack “very seriously”, the counterterrorism officer said: “They hate us, and everything we stand for,” adding that “And they’re bold and they’re always looking for targets.”
While experts believe that ISIS-K will more likely target Europe, ex-US Army captain called the open border a “huge concern” for terrorists attempting to enter the US in wake of the Moscow attacks.
“It’s only going to take a few of them to get armed and attack a large event [such as a] concert, baseball game, Times Square [in New York City] to bring terrorism to US soil,” he stated in a statement to The POST.
He further said that ISIS-K members who carried out the Moscow strike were from Tajikistan, where the terror group has been garnering immense backing.
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143 killed in Moscow concert hall attack
Moscow witnessed most deadly terrorist incident in Europe in the past 20 years on March 22, when four terrorists opened fire at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert venue, killing 143 people.
Following the attack, Russia said it has arrested 11 people, including four alleged gunmen.
The ISIS-K was also responsible for an incident at the airport in Kabul that occurred during the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of 183 people, including 13 US service members.
ISIS-K initially emerged in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2014 and 2015 after its commanders split from the Taliban and al-Qaida.
US officials, who have been alerting about the ISIS-K’s expanding activities, claimed to have issued a particular warning to Russia “in early March” on a “planned attack”, NPR reported.
