ISIS-K attempted suicide attack in India last year, says US official

Washington The Khorasan group of the ISIS or the ISISK which operates in south Asia last year attempted a suicide attack in India a top American official has told lawmakersIn fact of all the branches of the ISIS ISISK is the outfit that is of the most concern to the US Russel Travers Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Office of Director of National Intelligence said on TuesdayOf all of the branches and networks of ISIS ISISK is certainly one of those of most concern probably in the neighbourhood of 4000 individuals or so Travers said in response to a question from Indianorigin Senator Maggie HassanThey have attempted to certainly inspire attacks outside of Afghanistan They attempted last year to conduct a suicide attack in India It failed Travers said when Hassan asked about the ability of ISISK to carry out terrorist attacks in the regionHassan had travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan last month during which she said she heard firsthand the concerns of the US military about the growing and very real threat of ISISK the ISIS affiliate in AfghanistanI heard clearly that ISISK threatens not only US forces in Afghanistan but also has designs on striking the US homeland she saidLast week Travers had said that there were more than 20 ISIS branches globally some of which are using sophisticated technology such as drones to conduct operationsDespite Americas key victories against the ISIS in Syria and Iraq the terror outfit remains a deadly threat to the United States Senator Hassan saidTravers said ISISK tried a couple of years ago to inspire an attack in New York but the FBI interrupted Then there was an attack in Stockholm in 2017 that killed five people he addedSo they certainly have a desire and the propaganda would indicate that they want to conduct attacks outside of Afghanistan as far relatively limited the counterterrorism official saidAccording to Travers after 911 the US was primarily focused on an externally directed attack capability emanating from a single piece of real estate along the AfghanistanPakistan borderEighteen years later we face a homegrown violent extremist threat almost 20 ISIS branches and networks that range from tens to hundreds to thousands of people alQaeda and its branches and affiliates foreign fighters that flocked to Iraq and Syria from well over 100 countries Iran and its proxies and there is a growing terrorist threat from racially and ethnically motivated extremists around the globe he saidBy any calculation there are far more radicalised individuals now than there were at the time of 911 Travers told the lawmakersThis highlights the importance of terrorism prevention While some aspects of the threat can only be dealt with through kinetic operations the residents of the ideology will not be dealt with by military or law enforcement operations alone The world has a lot of work to do in the nonkinetic realm to deal with radicalization and underlying causes he addedTravers also said that alQaeda retains its longstanding ties to the Haqqani Network and other militant networks active in Afghanistan and Pakistan that frequently target US personnelCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates