
Pakistani citizen extradited to US for alleged ISIS-linked terror plot: FBI Director Kash Patel
Washington, DC [US], June 11 (ANI): Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, has been extradited to the United States on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to commit acts of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel announced in a post on social media platform 'X'.
https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1932584825866604772
'Earlier this afternoon, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, was extradited to the United States on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to commit acts of terrorism.
In the fall of last year, Khan allegedly planned to travel from Canada to New York and carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish Center in Brooklyn. Khan allegedly planned his attack to occur on October 7, 2024 -- the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel,' Patel stated.
'Thankfully, the great work of FBI teams and our partners exposed those plans and shut them down -- and Khan was arrested by Canadian authorities on September 4, 2024. He has now arrived in the U.S. and will face American justice,' he said.
Calling the case a reminder of the 'constant threat of terrorism facing every corner of the world,' Patel also warned about the 'disturbing rise in threats against our Jewish communities.'
He acknowledged the efforts of multiple FBI field offices, saying: '@NewYorkFBI, @FBIChicago and @FBILosAngeles did great work in this case with our partners and we thank them.'
The investigation highlights ongoing global efforts to counter terrorism. (ANI)

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Winnipeg Free Press
35 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump to sign a measure blocking California's ban on new sales of gas-powered cars
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Japan Forward
an hour ago
- Japan Forward
Need a Job? Who's a Target for Chinese Spies
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Islamic State reactivating fighters, eying comeback in Syria and Iraq
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At its peak between 2014 and 2017, IS held sway over roughly a third of Syria and Iraq, where it imposed its extreme interpretation of Islamic sharia law, gaining a reputation for shocking brutality. None of the officials who spoke with Reuters saw a danger of that happening again. But they cautioned against counting the group out, saying it has proven a resilient foe, adept at exploiting a vacuum. Some local and European officials are concerned that foreign fighters might be traveling to Syria to join jihadi groups. For the first time in years, intelligence agencies tracked a small number of suspected foreign fighters coming from Europe to Syria in recent months, two European officials told Reuters, though they could not say whether IS or another group recruited them. Exploiting divisions The IS push comes at a delicate time for Sharaa, as he attempts to unite a diverse country and bring former rebel groups under government control after 13 years of civil war. U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise decision last month to lift sanctions on Syria was widely seen as a win for the Syrian leader, who once led a branch of al Qaeda that battled IS for years. But some Islamist hardliners criticized Sharaa's efforts to woo Western governments, expressing concern he might acquiesce to U.S. demands to expel foreign fighters and normalize relations with Israel. Seizing on such divides, IS condemned the meeting with Trump in a recent issue of its online news publication, al-Naba, and called on foreign fighters in Syria to join its ranks. At a May 14 meeting in Saudi Arabia, Trump asked Sharaa to help prevent an IS resurgence as the U.S. begins a troop consolidation in Syria it says could cut its roughly 2,000-strong military presence by half this year. The U.S. drawdown has heightened concern among allies that IS might find a way to free some 9,000 fighters and their family members, including foreign nationals, held at prisons and camps guarded by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). There have been at least two attempted jailbreaks since Assad's fall, the SDF has said. Trump and President Tayyip Erdogan of neighboring Turkey want Sharaa's government to assume responsibility for these facilities. Erdogan views the main Kurdish factions as a threat to his country. But some regional analysts question whether Damascus has the manpower needed. Syrian authorities have also been grappling with attacks by suspected Assad loyalists, outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, Israeli airstrikes and clashes between Turkish-backed groups and the SDF, which controls about a quarter of the country. 'The interim government is stretched thin from a security perspective. They just do not have the manpower to consolidate control in the entire country,' said Charles Lister, who heads the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, a U.S. think tank. Responding to a request for comment, a State Department spokesperson said it is critical for countries to repatriate detained nationals from Syria and shoulder a greater share of the burden for the camps' security and running costs. The U.S. defense official said Washington remains committed to preventing an IS resurgence, and its vetted Syrian partners remain in the field. The U.S. will 'vigilantly monitor' Sharaa's government, which has been 'saying and doing the right things' so far, the official added. Three days after Trump's meeting with Sharaa, Syria announced it had raided IS hideouts in the country's second city, Aleppo, killing three militants, detaining four and seizing weapons and uniforms. The U.S. has exchanged intelligence with Damascus in limited cases, another U.S. defense official and two Syrian officials told Reuters. The news agency could not determine whether it did so in the Aleppo raids. The coalition is expected to wrap up operations in Iraq by September. But the second U.S. official said Baghdad privately expressed interest in slowing down the withdrawal of some 2,500 American troops from Iraq when it became apparent that Assad would fall. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the request. The White House, Baghdad and Damascus did not respond to questions about Trump's plans for U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. Reactivating sleeper cells The United Nations estimates IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh, has 1,500 to 3,000 fighters in the two countries. But its most active branches are in Africa, the SITE data shows. The U.S. military believes the group's secretive leader is Abdulqadir Mumin, who heads the Somalia branch, a senior defense official told reporters in April. Still, SITE's director, Rita Katz, cautioned against seeing the drop in IS attacks in Syria as a sign of weakness. 'Far more likely that it has entered a restrategizing phase,' she said. Since Assad's fall, IS has been activating sleeper cells, surveilling potential targets and distributing guns, silencers and explosives, three security sources and three Syrian political officials told Reuters. It has also moved fighters from the Syrian desert, a focus of coalition airstrikes, to cities including Aleppo, Homs and Damascus, according to the security sources. 'Of the challenges we face, Daesh is at the top of the list,' Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab told state-owned Ekhbariya TV last week. In Iraq, aerial surveillance and intelligence sources on the ground have picked up increased IS activity in the northern Hamrin Mountains, a longtime refuge, and along key roads, Ali al-Saidi, an advisor to Iraqi security forces, told Reuters. Iraqi officials believe IS seized large stockpiles of weapons left behind by Assad's forces and worry some could be smuggled into Iraq. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Baghdad was in contact with Damascus about IS, which he told Reuters in January was growing and spreading into more areas. 'We hope that Syria, in the first place, will be stable, and Syria will not be a place for terrorists,' he said, 'especially ISIS terrorists.' By Ahmed Rasheed, Timour Azhari and Michael Georgy, Reuters