As the world absorbs the horror of the ISIS-K slaughter inside a Russian concert hall, prominent members of Congress are warning the Afghan-based terror group could strike inside the United States.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said Sunday the threat of an attack was heightened by President Joe Biden‘s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, which gave ISIS-K a breeding ground to train and carry out attacks.
“It’s sort of like we’re going back to that old playbook where history repeats itself,” McCaul told CBS. “And that’s why the fall of Afghanistan, the way it was done, and the way we left it with no ISR capability, that intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, puts us in danger, where this is a new battleground training ground for ISIS.”
McCaul’s remarks came as Russian officials continued to search for bodies in a concert hall outside Moscow where four heavily armed gunmen opened fire before setting the building ablaze, killing at least 137. ISIS-K claimed responsibility and four men were charged Sunday.
Ask whether ISIS-K could attack America, McCaul said: “I think so.“
“And I think Europe is of concern,” he added.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told ABC on Sunday that FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed to him that a trafficking network exists that smuggles illegal aliens with ties to the Islamic State into the United States, raising the threat of a Moscow-style attack here.
“They’ll do it here in the homeland,” Rubio said. “I think we should be very concerned as the FBI director confirmed to me that there is a wing – there is a trafficking network out there that specializes in moving people. They do it for profit, moving people and migrants around the world, including across our southern border, who have links to ISIS.”
“I think common sense tells you, if they run a trafficking network of people, they would most certainly use it to move operatives into the United States,” he added. “So, I’m not claiming there’s an imminent threat to the U.S., but I am saying that border situation and that existence of that network is a threat to the United States.”
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