WASHINGTON: An Afghan man was arrested in Oklahoma for allegedly plotting an election day “terrorist attack,” the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
The man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, living in Oklahoma City after entering the US in 2021 on a special immigrant visa, was plotting the attack in the name of Islamic State, according to the indictment. The Special Immigrant Visa program, which admits up to 50 people a year, is available to people who worked with the US armed forces or under chief of mission authority as a translator or interpreter in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The indictment did not indicate whether Tawhedi worked as translator or interpreter in Afghanistan. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tawhedi searched online for information on how to access cameras in the capital, Washington, D.C., and for states that did not require a license to get a firearm, according to the indictment. He also visited the White House and Washington Monument webcameras.
Tawhedi and an underage co-conspirator, who is his brother-in-law, were arrested on Monday after they met with FBI assets to buy two AK-47 rifles and ammunition.
In his post-arrest interview, Tawhedi said the attack planned to target large gatherings of people, during which he and his co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs.
“We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that Daesh and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Last week, in a “homeland threat assessment,” the Department of Homeland Security said the US threat environment was expected to remain high in the coming year due to factors including the 2024 election cycle and the war in Gaza.
“Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat. Meanwhile, foreign terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda maintain their enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland,” the department said in an assessment released on Oct. 2.
The Islamic State militant organization killed and executed thousands of people in the name of its extreme religious interpretation before it was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019.
Afghan man in Oklahoma City arrested for plotting Election Day attack for Daesh — indictment
https://arab.news/2ha3c
Afghan man in Oklahoma City arrested for plotting Election Day attack for Daesh — indictment
- Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, has been living in Oklahoma City after entering the US in 2021 on a special immigrant visa
- Tawhedi and co-conspirator arrested on Monday after they met with FBI assets to buy two AK-47 rifles and ammunition
Afghan government says Pakistan strikes Kabul and border provinces
- A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight
- Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy
KABUL: Afghan authorities said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out new strikes on Kabul and border provinces, killing four people in the capital.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight, adding their forces targeted the Pakistani Taliban militant group, known as TTP.
Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy following growing attacks in Pakistan.
But the Taliban government has denied any involvement or the use of Afghan territory for militancy.
Khalil Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul police, said four people had been killed and 15 wounded in the bombardment that hit homes in the capital, with women and children among the victims.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.
In Kandahar, which is home to the administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, air strikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air, near the airport.
This company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft.
Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
Afghan and Pakistani forces have also clashed repeatedly at the border in recent weeks, hampering trade and forcing nearby residents to leave their homes.
‘Open war’
The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said that 56 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, including 24 children, by Pakistani military operations between February 26 and March 5.
About 115,000 people were forced to leave their homes, according to the UN refugee agency.
Fighting between the two countries intensified on February 26, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, in retaliation for earlier Pakistani air strikes targeting the TTP.
Pakistan then declared “open war” against the Taliban authorities, bombing the capital, Kabul, on February 27.
Since then, clashes have increased in border regions, including overnight Wednesday to Thursday that the Afghan authorities said killed four members of the same family in Khost province.
The Taliban government said on Thursday that four members of the same family, including two children, were killed by Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in eastern Afghanistan.
Seven people had been killed in Afghanistan since Tuesday as a result of cross-border clashes between the two sides, according to the authorities in Kabul.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the latest deaths happened early Thursday in the village of Sadqo in Khost province, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilian homes and nomads’ tents.
