ISIS trying to acquire bioterror weapons

ISIS trying to acquire bioterror weapons

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While the U.S is still building a strategy against the extreme Islamic state (IS) terror group, aka ISIS / ISIL, it is accelerating efforts to gain WMD capabilities.

Terrorist organizations for a while now have been trying to acquire or build biological weapons of mass destruction. After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, soldiers found at least one chemical weapons laboratory used by al-Qaeda. Now, with the growing threat of ISIS, analysts are concerned that the Islamist group may gain access to bio-labs in Syria or Iraq.

iHLS Israel Homeland Security

Foreign Policy reports that Abu Ali, a leader of a moderate Syrian rebel group in northern Syria, recently found a laptop containing instructions for building bio-terror weapons. The laptop, found after the rebel group raided an ISIS building, belonged to Muhammed S., a Tunisian national who joined ISIS. Hidden in several folders on the laptop were 35,347 files containing documents and speeches of leading jihadi clerics, videos of Osama bin Laden, and practical training on how to carry out deadly campaigns. The laptop also contains documents about how to build and use biological weapons.

According to Homeland Security News Wire, while nothing on the laptop announces ISIS’ acquisition of a weaponized biological agent, files on the computer show that biological weapons are tools that IS intends to get its hands on, despite control measures put in place by the United States and the international community.