The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have recruited a notable new member — the suspected creator of the “underwear bomb.”
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri — a bomb maker accused of crafting the explosives for several high-profile terror plots, including the 2009 Christmas Day bomb attempt — has “sworn an allegiance to ISIS,” NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel reported.
“ISIS’s rapid advance from Syria into Iraq is … winning the group new recruits and the admiration of some other terrorists, including one of the world’s most notorious bomb makers,” Mr. Engel said.
Several counter-terrorism officials told NBC that the threat to U.S interests by ISIS is “extremely high,” with one expert saying that the “holy grail” for the group would be to attack in the West.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is serving a life sentence for the failed 2009 plot to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day, was using a new bomb thought to be made by al-Asiri.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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