Isis claims it could buy its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan within
12 months
Isis has used the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq
to suggest the group is expanding so rapidly it could buy its first nuclear
weapon within a year.
The hyperbolic
article, which the group attributes to the British hostage John Cantlie, claims
Isis has transcended its roots as “the most explosive Islamic ‘group’ in the
modern world” to evolve into “the most explosive Islamic movement the modern
world has ever seen” in less than twelve months.
Photojournalist Cantlie is regularly used in the terror group’s
propaganda and has appeared in a number of videos, including a YouTube series
called "Lend Me Your Ears". He has been held a hostage by Isis for
more than two years.
The piece, entitled "The Perfect Storm", describes
militant Islamist groups such as Boko Haram, which recently pledged allegiance
to Isis, uniting across the Middle East, Africa and Asia to create one global
movement.
The
article claims this alignment of groups has happened at the sane time as Isis
militants have seized “tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems, anti-aircraft
systems,” from the US and Iran before turning to the subject of more extreme
weapons the group is not in possession of - such as nuclear weapons.
“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table,” the
article continues. “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so
they call on their wilāyah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through
weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region."
It
admits that such a scenario is “far-fetched” but warns: “It’s the sum of all
fears for Western intelligence agencies and it’s infinitely more possible today
than it was just one year ago.
"And
if not a nuke, what about a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive?
That’s easy enough to make."
An
attack launched by Isis against America would ridicule "the attacks of the
past".
"They’ll
[Isis] be looking to do something big, something that would make any past
operation look like a squirrel shoot, and the more groups that pledge
allegiance the more possible it becomes to pull off something truly epic.
“Remember,
all of this has happened in less than a year. How more dangerous will be the
lines of communication and supply a year on from today?”
The
capacity of Isis to acquire such a device is certainly beyond the group at the
moment.
But
Isis is indeed a well funded group having secured a number of oilfields in
Syria and Iraq. The group also sells artefacts looted from historic areas
seized during its insurgency, sometimes for six figure sums, as well as
imposing taxes on civilians trapped in its self-declared caliphate and other
methods of extortion.
The
finances of the group have been estimated by some to be in the $2billion area,
though it is impossible to verify how much money it actually has access to.
The
threats come against a mixed backdrop of successes and losses in both
countries; the group has been driven out of Tikrit in Iraq but has overrun
Ramaldi and the Syrian ancient city of Palmyra.
A
recent call to arms from its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also appeared to
suggest it may be overstretched in some areas, with his speech urging
supporters from across the world to travel to its territories in the Middle
East.
In
September last year, the Home Secretary, Theresa May,warned that the
militant group could become the world's first "truly terrorist state".
“We
will see the risk, often prophesied but thank God not yet fulfilled, that with
the capability of a state behind them, the terrorists will acquire chemical,
biological or even nuclear weapons to attack us," she said.
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