Over the last 12 months, there have been 39 homegrown jihadist cases in 20 states for plots to attack; overseas travel in the furtherance of jihad; financial support; lying to authorities; and weapons charges. Since the 9/11 jihadi attacks, there have been 209 homegrown jihadist cases in the United States, of which 132 involved ISIS-related arrests, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“Cases of homegrown Islamist extremism in the United States continue to increase as US persons radicalize,” the committee said, warning, “In America, homegrown jihadist cases have hit a dangerous new milestone … Since [ISIS’s] inception in 2013, there have been at least 199 ISIS-linked plots or attacks against the West or western targets, 21 in the first four months of 2017 alone. Nearing the 200-mark, ISIS continues to use everyday items to carry out heinous attacks.”
“Since 2013, there have been 44 recorded instances of ISIS-linked plots or attacks where an edged weapon was used, and 14 recorded instances where a vehicle was used as a weapon. Additionally,” the committee reported, “building homemade explosives continues to be of interest to the group, with 63 cases recorded by the committee where ISIS used or attempted to build or use explosives to carry out an attack in the West or against western targets. Five of these cases have occurred just this year.”
Continuing, the committee reported, “ISIS continues to inspire and direct terrorist plotting at a high rate, with 13 plots or attacks against Western targets since just the beginning of 2017, an average of more than one a week. At the same time, Al Qaeda poses a persistent danger—from Iraq and Syria to Yemen and Somalia—and remains determined to strike the United States.”
Recently, as Homeland Security Today reported, AQAP leader Qasim Al Rimi called on Muslims living in the West to target US citizens, while ISIS called on jihadists to buy weapons at gun shows and through other means to carry out attacks and listed top public spaces to assault.
