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WASHINGTON — The ISIS-K terrorist organization that killed more than 140 Russians March 22 in Moscow would like to replicate the attack in the United States, but they lack the capability, according to current and former senior U.S. officials.
“The U.S. remains Target No. 1 for ISIS-K,” said Mark Quantock, a retired two-star Army general who oversaw intelligence operations for U.S. Central Command. “They clearly would like to strike the homeland, but their challenge is penetrating our security, which has proven to be quite resilient in recent years.”
Known for its brutality, ISIS-K considers Russia and many western countries to be anti-Muslim. Russia has sided with Syrian president Bashar Assad in its civil war, launching airstrikes for years that that have killed Islamic militants and displaced hundreds of thousands of Syrians. They also regard even hardline Muslim regimes like the Taliban to be insufficiently devout. They once targeted a maternity clinic in Afghanistan and were responsible for the attack in August 2021 in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. troops and 170 Afghans during the chaotic retreat of Americans and Afghans.
