London Worried About ISIS Nuclear Attack

 

ISIS Scare Forces UN To Review Nuclear Resolution On Non-State Actors
Sapan Kapoor | New Delhi | Updated: June 17, 2015 6:27 pm

After Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) set the cat among the pigeons through its claims of acquiring nuclear weapons within one year from Pakistan, the UN Security Council has asked its members to review its resolution on preventing non-state actors from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“The review should serve our common interest of preventing the ability of non-State actors (an individual or entity, not acting under the lawful authority of any State) to threaten us with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in particular for terrorist purposes,” Xinhua news agency cited an official statement as saying.

Resolution 1540, “Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” adopted in 2004, asks all member states to refrain from providing any form of support to non-State actors that attempt to develop, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Affirming that proliferation of nuclear, chemical, biological weapons constitutes a threat to international peace and security, the resolution obligates all states to adopt and enforce effective laws which prohibit any non-State actor to manufacture, transfer or use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

According to the council, the review began on April 28 and is to be completed by November 30, 2016.

The ISIS magazine ‘Dabiq’ in an article had claimed that the Islamic group is expanding so fast that they can buy their own nuclear weapon within a year. According to the article, they can buy nuclear weapons within 12 months from corrupt officials in Pakistan.

The article claims ISIS militants have seized “tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems, anti-aircraft systems,” from the US and Iran. It then talks about the subject of more extreme weapons the group is not in possession of – such as nuclear weapons.

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.”

Indian Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh had also warned earlier this month that militants fighting for the Islamic State were not merely exaggerating when they boasted of potentially acquiring nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

Speaking at a security conference in Singapore, Rao Inderjit Singh had said that with billions in the bank and contact with powerful Pakistani arms dealers, it is feasible that ISIS could buy a nuclear bomb.

(With Inputs From IANS)

Intelligence Suggests ISIS Has A Dirty Bomb (Dan 8:7)

  


ISIS has a ‘dirty’ nuke? Intelligence says they have enough radioactive material

June 12, 2015
10:55 PM MST Facebook Twitter More Comment

ISIS may have a nuclear weapon. According to Australian intelligence sources, the militant group that has sown such violence in eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq in their stated purpose of bringing about a worldwide caliphate have seized enough radioactive material to effectively build a “dirty” nuclear bomb.

The Independent reported June 10 that ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has seized enough radioactive material during their reign of terror in the Levant to have the capacity to potentially construct a large and devastating “dirty” bomb. Australian intelligence reports state that the material, which was taken from government facilities captured by ISIS in the past several months, constitutes enough for the militant group to possibly put together their very own WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction).

And with the first anniversary of the declaration of the caliphate and the Islamic religious holiday of Ramadan imminent, there are those that believe that ISIS will be especially active in the next few months. There is also concern that ISIS, in the capture of hospitals and government facilities, may also turn to weaponizing biological and chemical materials. “Isis is likely to begin and end Ramadan with attempted spectacular military offensive actions in Iraq and Syria,” The Independent quoted from a report from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

Julie Bishop, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, spoke with The Australian about the growing concerns (which are shared by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — NATO), stating that “the insurgents did not just clear out the cash from local banks” when they began fighting for their extremist goals and taking over territory. It has become such a worrisome topic that Bishop spoke about it at the recent meeting of the Australia Group, a 40-nation conference that exists to rid the world of chemical weapons.

Needless to say, the rest of the civilized world would prefer that ISIS never gain enough radioactive material for a “dirty” bomb (or biological and/or chemical material, for that matter). Given that the extremist Islamic organization has shown itself completely insensitive and intolerant to people of other religious sects within and without Islam, it undoubtedly goes without saying that Australian intelligence (and NATO) have developed scenarios of worst-case intensity in regard to the eventuality that ISIS build and use a WMD of some sort.

Besides, ISIS has made it clear that declared its ambition to develop WMDs. In fact, the militants did so in the most recent edition of its propaganda magazine Dabiq (via a separate The Independent article), noting that they could hypothetically purchase a nuclear bomb from Pakistan.
But if one should think that talk of WMDs in the hands of ISIS might be nothing but a psychological scare tactic on the part of the militant group or an alarmist viewpoint taken by Western nations, it should be noted that Indian defense officials have previously warned about the possibility of ISIS gaining a nuclear weapon. Indian officials reported that religious extremists might possibly acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.

Islamic State has proved to be tenacious in its ability to take and hold parts of Syria and Iraq. While some military and foreign affairs experts believe a wait-and-see approach is still called for, others that fear that the ISIS brand of religious extremism could become too entrenched if left to its own propagandist and militant ends.

In a show that the United States is taking the ISIS threat a bit more seriously, President Barack Obama recently ordered an extra 450 military advisers to Iraq to combat the militants. According to CNN, there are currently about 3,050 U.S. forces in Iraq. Most (about 2,250 troops) are deployed in support of Iraqi security forces. Some 450 are engaged in training Iraqi troops and another 200 act as advisers.

Eyewitness proves ISIS is developing a nuke (Dan 8:7)

  

Terrorist group developing nuclear weapon
Chika Ebuzor | 00:26 | 11.06.2015

An eyewitness report by a resident of Deir a-Zur in Syria says ISIS members have been cited reconstructing the nuclear facility, that was destroyed by Israeli Air force in 2007.

Sources say the terrorist group has been digging at the site of the Syrian nuclear reactor in Deir a-Zur.
To further buttress this point, Australian intelligence has released a report stating that ISIS has taken possession of some radio-active materials which they seized from Syria and Iraq.

The Australian intelligence reports revealed that the terrorist group is planning to build a dirty bomb.
Experts say that with this weapon, ISIS will be more powerful, and they might launch an attack to celebrate the first year anniversary of their caliphate on June 29th.

According to The Independent, “The US-based Institute for the Study of War has noted that the group usually reserves its major operations to coincide with the Islamic holy month. Isis is likely to begin and end Ramadan with attempted spectacular military offensive actions in Iraq and Syria.”
You will recall that ISIS boasted openly in its online magazine- Dabiq saying they could get weapons of mass destruction from Pakistan.

The article also said ‘The Islamic State makes no secret of the fact they have every intention of attacking America on its home soil and they’re not going to mince about with two mujāhidīn taking down a dozen casualties if it originates from the Caliphate. They’ll 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.’

Kurdish security personnel also reported that there were samples of weaponised chlorine on the clothes of dead Kurds, and in the soil in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

ISIS Ready to Dirty Bomb US (Dan 8:8)

 

ISIS has enough nuclear material to make dirty bomb: report

ADAM EDELMAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Today, 1:25 PM ET

Militants in the bloodthirsty jihadist group have purportedly stolen radioactive chemicals from government labs across Iraq and Syria and are now trying to assemble explosive devices with them, The Independent, a British newspaper, reported Wednesday, citing Australian intelligence reports and ISIS propaganda literature.

In the latest issue of Dabiq, ISIS’ perverted publicity magazine, members of the group allegedly bragged they could soon have the capability to build or purchase nuclear weapons, which could, in turn, be used to build dirty bombs — devices that use radiological or chemical materials along with conventional explosives.

Previously, ISIS members allegedly had said in the magazine, the group could try to buy a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.

According to The Independent, Australian intelligence officials were so concerned about the group’s stated intentions they called for a meeting of the “Australia Group,” an international forum dedicated to stopping the proliferation of chemical weapons, to address the issue.

ISIS militants march through their stronghold of Raqqa, Syria. The group now controls vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

“(ISIS) is likely to have amongst its tens of thousands of recruits the technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials and build chemical weapons,” Julie Bishop, Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said at the meeting, according to The Independent, citing intelligence reports.

The renewed concerns over a potential radioactive weapon in the hands of ISIS comes nearly a year after Iraqi officials warned the U.N. the group had obtained materials that could “be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.”

In July 2014, Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Ali Alhakim disclosed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that ISIS had ransacked labs at a university in Mosul and stolen uranium and more than 2,000 sarin-filled rockets.

ISIS Is Nuclear Capable (Dan 8:4)

  

Islamic State capable of buying nuclear weapons, security chief warns

By Cyrus Engineer / Published 1st June 2015

The terrorist group recently claimed it was “infinitely” closer to getting its hands on weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

And now India’s defence minister has said it is possible ISIS – who have vast financial resources – could buy a bomb.

Speaking at a security conference Rao Inderjit Singh said: “With the rise of ISIS in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan.”
His chilling warning comes just a week after British hostage John Cantlie issued a similar threat in ISIS’ magazine Dabiq.

Mr Cantlie is said to have written: “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah (local branches) in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.”

The magazine article warns any WMD could then be secretly moved into the US.

The article says: “The Islamic State make no secret of the fact they have every intention of attacking America on its home soil and they’re not going to mince about with two mujahidin taking down a dozen casualties if it originates from the caliphate.

“They’ll 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.”

ISIS is the world’s wealthiest terrorist group.

It is in control of large numbers of oil refineries in Syria and Iraq.

Banks in the Iraqi city of Mosul have also been raided.

ISIS also funds itself through the sale of rare treasures and antiquities from ancient ruins across their area of control.

The ISIS Nuclear Threat (Daniel 8:8)

 

Isis could obtain nuclear weapon from Pakistan, warns India

By ALEXANDER SEHMER
Sunday 31 May 2015

India’s defence minister has voiced concern that the radical Islamist group Isis could obtain a nuclear weapon from “states like Pakistan”.

Rao Inderjit Singh made the comments on the sidelines of the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore, Bloomberg has reported.

“With the rise of Isis in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme began in the 1970s in response to India’s development and testing of its own nuclear device.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who helped develop Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, confessed in 2004 that his network had sold nuclear know-how on the black market to states such as North Korea and Iran.

But both Pakistan and India rank poorly in terms of nuclear security. According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s ‘nuclear materials security index’, out of 25 countries Pakistan is ranked 22nd, while India is ranked 23rd.

The US Should Worry More Than India About ISIS (Dan 8)

India concerned ISIS may get access to Pakistan’s nuclear arms
Livemint

Singh said if Pak develops technology that enables its submarines to carry nuclear warheads, ‘it would just be a step further in arming its defense services’

Hong Kong: India is concerned that extremist groups such as Islamic State may get their hands on nuclear arms from Pakistan, minister of state for defence Rao Inderjit Singh said.

“With the rise of ISIS in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan,” Singh said on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore.

Terrorism has killed more than 50,000 people in Pakistan since 2001 and given rise to concern about the security of its armaments. Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear programme in the world, according to the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, with an arsenal of 100 to 120 warheads, compared with China’s 250 and India with 90 to 100.

Singh said if Pakistan develops technology that enables its submarines to carry nuclear warheads, “it would just be a step further in arming their defense services.”

India ranked 23rd out of 25 countries in the NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index, only above Iran and North Korea. Pakistan ranked 22nd. Bloomberg

The new CBRN terrorist threat (Revelation 16)

Could ISIL go nuclear?

NATO Review

This year has shown that terrorism is again coming closer to Europe. After Madrid in 2003 and London in 2005, this year it has already visited Paris, Brussels and Verviers. Tomorrow it could be Frankfurt, Berlin or Rome.
Muslim countries in Asia are also at risk. The US has had its own terrorist experiences with New York, Boston and other attacks. While public attention is currently very much focused on military security in Europe, and in particular in Europe’s Eastern neighbourhood, much less attention is given to developments on the southern borders of NATO. Terrorist groups operating there, as inhumane as they are, are still considered primarily as a “conventional threat”.
But a further particular risk could become a major threat to Western societies. There is a very real – but not yet fully identified risk – of foreign fighters in ISIL’s ranks using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials as “weapons of terror” against the West.
One can easily imagine the number of victims created by panic as well as the economic disruption if the ’Charlie Hebdo’ attacks had centred on “Chatelet les Halles”, the biggest Paris metro station, with an improvised explosive device containing radioactive sources or chemical material instead of using Kalashnikovs. The deadly Tokyo attacks in 1995 using toxic chemical material, (the so called “Sarin attack”), could have killed many more people. Had Aum Shinrikyo used all the Sarin they had actually produced, a large part of Tokyo’s population would have died. Thus the attacks led at the time to a complete rethinking of the threat perception, well before 9/11.
Until now, the Tokyo attacks have fortunately remained an exception and most terrorist groups have used “conventional” explosives or weapons, simply because they lacked access to know-how and material.
This may soon change. And there is a reason.

A new threat scenario

A lot has been written recently regarding the rising power of an organisation that calls itself the “Islamic State in the Levant” (ISIL) or “Daesh”. ISIL has attracted at least hundreds if not thousands of foreign fighters from Western countries to join its ranks. What makes ISIL different is exactly that.
Hundreds of foreign fighters, some with solid academic and educational backgrounds and intellectual knowledge, have joined the cause and continue to do so every day. Furthermore ISIL’s success is based on an effective media strategy of looking at the utmost possible “news effect” of their attacks. Together with their access to high levels of funding, these three elements bear the real risk of the group turning into practice what up to now has been largely a theoretical possibility: to actually employ weapons of mass destruction or CBRN material in terrorist attacks.
We might thus soon enter a stage of CBRN terrorism, never before imaginable. Worrying reports confirm that ISIL has gained (at least temporarily) access to former chemical weapons storage sites in Iraq. They might soon do so in Libya. They allegedly used toxic chemicals in the fighting around Kobane. Even more worrying, there are press reports about nuclear material from Iraqi scientific institutes having been seized by ISIL. This demonstrates that while no full scale plots have been unveiled so far, our governments need to be on alert. Generating improved military and civil prevention and response capabilities should be a high priority and should not fall victim to limited budgets in times of economic crisis.

New actors

Apart from their ideology, an even more fundamentalist and aggressive version of jihad than Al Qaida’s, four unique features make ISIL different:
First, their “possession” (or de facto control) of a huge “territory”, stretching from the Turkish border in Syria to close to Baghdad in Iraq and approaching the Lebanese border. Numerous air strikes by the international “Anti-ISIL coalition”, in which a number of NATO Allies are involved, tried to target ISIL and its strongholds. However, despite coalition and Iraqi Armed Forces successes in forcing ISIL to give up some territory, the group remains able to control and find refuge in large parts of Syria and Iraq, most recently by capturing the city of Ramadi.
Second, the reported access to extraordinary levels of funding. ISIL is reputed (much more than Al Qaida ever did) to earn money through “economic” and fundraising activities inside their territories, from supporters abroad and from the collection of ransom money. Most recently, the Ambassador of Iraq to the UN even claimed that ISIL was selling human organs from victims to earn money. They are said to be already involved in human smuggling of migrants from Libya to Europe to create funding.
Third, ISIL, in addition to its strong ideological motivation, is building its success on the use of social and other media in a way rarely seen before by other terrorist groups. This helps them gain attention at any cost for their atrocities, such as the decapitation or even the burning alive of hostages.
Fourth and most dangerously, the hundreds if not thousands of foreign fighters from the Arab world and Western countries in ISIL’s ranks, some of them with solid knowledge including in chemical, physical and computer sciences, makes ISIL special. A full assessment is still very difficult, as only a limited amount of information on the backgrounds of the fighters is publicly available. Notwithstanding that, it is clear that ISIL attracts growing numbers of young foreigners daily from all levels of society. Clearly reported cases show that ISIL actually has already acquired the knowledge, and in some cases the human expertise, that would allow it to use CBRN materials as “weapons of terror”.

Access to material

A full threat analysis needs to look specifically at how and where the terrorists could actually get hold of CBRN material. Reportedly in the past, it was exactly the difficulty of access and handling of this material that limited terrorist groups’ appetite, including Al Qaida, in using them in actual attacks. Osama Bin Laden is reported to have even advised against this. However, over the past few months several potential sources where ISIL has gained access, or had the possibility of access to such material, have been made public.

Chemical weapons

Most of the declared chemical weapons (CW) material has been removed from Syria in the past few months and destroyed. However, there are indications that some material still remains in the country and is potentially accessible to ISIL. In addition, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) suggested that chemical material not qualifying as CW and not subject to being declared under the CW convention, such as chlorine, has actually been used by the Assad regime in the fight against the Syrian opposition. Some press reports indicate that ISIL might have done the same.
Even more worrying, ISIL actually controlled the so-called Al Muthanna site in Iraq for some months during 2014. At this site, according to UN reports, bunkers from the past Iraqi CW programme contained “2,000 empty artillery shells contaminated with mustard agents, 605 one tonne mustard containers with residues and heavily contaminated construction material”.
Iraqi forces claim to have retaken possession of the site. However, the fragile state of these buildings makes it too dangerous for regular Iraqi forces (but not necessarily for ISIL “martyrs”) to enter the bunkers and check whether any looting has taken place. While it is reported that the stored material would be of limited toxicity due to its age, it can still be used to create panic.
Also, no one is able to tell how much material so far has landed in the hands of ISIL. According to most recent reports in the New York Times, in mid-2000 the CIA repeatedly purchased nerve agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller but that the relationship “dried up” in 2006. Nobody knows with certainty how much material is still out there. Libya, where ISIL is establishing a new stronghold, has still not destroyed all its chemical materials from previous programmes. They could also fall into ISIL’s hands.

Nuclear material

Equally of concern is that ISIL fighters or supporters have stolen nearly 90 pounds (approx. 40kg) of low enriched uranium from scientific institutions at the Mosul University in Iraq. Due to its limited toxicity, again this material can be used rather to spread panic than to inflict serious physical harm. Yet, it is not without risk.
It’s not for nothing that the US and other Western countries have been helping Iraqi authorities since the mid-2000s secure and recover other more dangerous material. The programme included securing and removing orphaned and disused radioactive sources and nuclear waste from previous Iraqi programmes that were dismantled after the second Gulf war.
The clear aim of these efforts was to reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring these dangerous nuclear materials. It remains questionable whether all dangerous materials have indeed been removed from Iraqi territory. As for Syria, there are still unconfirmed reports that the country has moved nuclear material, intended to be used in the destroyed Dair al-Sour reactor, to an undisclosed storage site near the city of Kusair.
Finally, despite existing but often loose controls, accessible industrial chemicals, radioactive sources or other CBRN material out of regulatory control might be used by returning fighters or home grown “lone wolves” to plan or commit acts of terror. On February 16 this year, the UK police reportedly arrested a man called Mohammed Ammer Ali charged with trying to obtain 500g of Ricin, a material used in chemical weapons.

Access to know-how and the resulting threat to the West

Still not enough is known publicly about the exact level of knowledge and expertise of ISIL fighters and foreign fighters in their ranks for dealing with CBRN material. Some of them have reportedly received higher education in Western universities or otherwise acquired the necessary knowledge. One confirmed case is a former Saddam WMD specialist, Salih Jasaim Muhammad Falah al-Sabawi, who was allegedly killed by a US air strike near Mosul on 24 February 2015. According to US intelligence sources, Al-Sabawi had previously worked at the Al Muthanna site referred to above, and was allegedly gathering relevant equipment. ISIL’s ambitions to acquire chemical weapons are referred to by these intelligence sources as “more than just notional”.
The threat to Western nations and for the region
To understand the threat, one needs to distinguish between different groups of possible perpetrators.
First there are the returning foreign fighters. They could be ready to bring their “fight” to Western countries at any price either directly or as so-called “sleeper cells” (or “human time bombs”) awaiting a signal to act. While a smaller group of them might have lost any illusion about the “legitimacy” of ISIL fights and are willing to change course, others have been further radicalised.
Second, there are the so-called “home grown” terrorists within Western countries, radicalised followers of ISIL or Al Qaida. Most of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in Paris and of uncovered plots in Belgium, UK, and other European countries, belonged to the latter group.
Third, there is an undeniable threat by fighters in the Iraqi, Syrian and Libyan combat theatres, creating a risk for the local population and the countries in the immediate vicinity. As referred to above, ISIL is reported to have made use of a widely available industrial chemical, chlorine, in the ongoing fighting, as did the Assad regime.
Returning foreign fighters could be ready to bring their “fight” to Western countries at any price either directly or as so-called “sleeper cells” (or “human time bombs”) awaiting a signal to act

NATO’s response

NATO’s response does not need to start from scratch. Over more than 15 years, NATO, as well as individual Allies, have built up capacities to prevent, protect and recover from WMD attacks or CBRN events. Some activities started well before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
NATO tools include the Combined Joint CBRN Defence Task Force, a strong military capacity created by volunteering Allies to be at the disposal of NATO in case of a WMD or CBRN attack. Regular training ensures its operational readiness. Intelligence sharing and reporting to Allies helps to identify potential threats.
The Joint CBRN Centre of Excellence, established by Allies in the Czech Republic, provides training and expertise to military customers and first responders in Allied and partner countries. It integrates a “Reach Back facility” operated 24/7 to react and provide scientific and operational advice in case of an attack, having access to a large secondary network of expertise in Allied countries.
The Defence against Terrorism Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Ankara, Turkey, provides advice and undertakes research on the terrorist threat including the issue of foreign fighters. Other NATO CoEs and agencies as well as Allied national military capacities are consistently reviewing, together with Allied civil protection forces (police, firefighters etc.) preparedness plans against possible CBRN attacks. These response capacities are also regularly trained in exercises and are on standby in case of any attack, whether committed by state actors, ISIL members or lone wolf terrorists.

Conclusion

As terrorism is again coming closer to Europe, more attention needs to be paid to the developments on NATO’s southern borders to the possible use of CBRN material in terrorist attacks not just in the region but also in Western societies. NATO and its Allies need to step up their preparedness and be ready to act jointly, including by ensuring that necessary military and civil prevention and response capabilities remain adequately funded – even in periods of defence and public spending being under stress in many Allied countries.

Why ISIS Nuclear Threats Should Be Taken Seriously (Dan 8)

 

Islamic State Lays Claim on Pak Nukes

Author ALLABAKSH – Wednesday, 27 05 2015 11:24

The claim by the Islamic State that it can ‘buy’ a nuclear device from Pakistan for a spectacular attack on the US soil sounds more like a propaganda statement than a realistic warning. The purport of the claim on buying nukes, made on an IS website, is obviously to keep the morale of the present and prospective IS fighters from various parts of the world high as they take over newer and newer territories.

But then it may be unwise to altogether dismiss the ‘boast’ for two reasons. One, IS is a group of fanatics totally blinded by their belief in the power of the gun and untouched by normal human values and considerations. Two, Pakistan has a known nuclear proliferation record of clandestine buying and selling of nuclear technology.

It also needs to be added that in recent days, reports have emerged that suggest that Saudi Arabia has a claim on Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile because the royals in Riyadh had magnanimously financed Pakistan’s nuclear programme from the time metallurgist, A.Q. Khan, had escaped to his native Pakistan with European designs from Holland several decades ago.

Khan, after working on the ‘Islamic Bomb’ under the supervision of Z.A. Bhutto, stepped into the business of lucrative moon shining by selling nuclear technology. It included the process of enriching uranium and missile delivery systems that Pakistan had secretly obtained from North Korea in exchange for exporting its nuclear technology. Everything was going on well for Pakistan’s nuclear programme with active collaboration of China and the benign eye of the US which at that time treated Pakistan as a trusted ally in its fight against the Soviet Union and its plans to contain a pro-Soviet India.

For close to 40 years, Pakistan’s nuclear programme flourished without any fear of the US making a noise about the Chinese involvement in proliferation activities in Pakistan or the AQ Khan nuclear Wall-Mart. Khan had sold the nuclear technology that he had worked on in Pakistani laboratories to a number of clients, prominent being Libya, Iraq and North Korea. But he had also struck deals with a number of other Muslim countries. And, of course, the Saudis had come to assume that they need not bother about making their own nuclear weapons because they could have instant access to the Pakistani nukes by virtue of being the most generous fund provider of the programme.

As was to be expected, Pakistan has rejected the reports about its secret understanding on supplying nuclear weapons to Riyadh which lately has been rather jittery in the face of rising Islamic militancy led by a group which is completely beyond its control.

The Saudis had disclaimed patronage to Al Qaeda which had its origin in Saudi Arabia, a nation which does support the extreme form of Wahabi Islam that militants have adopted as their creed. Osama bin Laden was a rich Saudi Arabian. Most of the funds for Al Qaeda came from the Saudis. There may have been no official sanction for Al Qaeda but it certainly had many benefactors in the Saudi kingdom who could not have been unknown to the circles that matter.

Following 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, the US mounted pressure on Pakistan to make sure that its nuclear arsenal was beyond the reach of terrorist groups. Pakistan has also claimed that its ‘crown jewels’ were safe and secure beyond the reach of terrorists. How true it is cannot be said.

Fanaticism, intolerance and radical beliefs have taken deep roots in the land of the pure which was carved out of British India in 1947 as the homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent. There are scientists in the atomic establishment of Pakistan who are Jihad sympathizers. Two of them, occupying very senior positions, had to be removed from service after their sympathies became known to the world.

It is necessary to remember that the key to Pakistani nuclear arsenal is with the military, not the civilian rulers. Thanks to the fundamentalist zeal of a former Pakistani military dictator, Zia-ul-Haq, the Pakistani army is dominated by religious zealots, right from the level of ordinary soldier to the generals. A 1995 plot to kill Benazir Bhutto was reportedly prepared by army officers. The lead author of this plot was a Major General, who, as Brigadier, had served in the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi as the ISI agent-in-chief in India.

Many of the heads of ISI have been known to be sympathetic to the Islamic radicals. One of them, Hamid Gul, had once proudly boasted to Indian journalists his authorship of the ‘bleeding with thousand cuts’ jihadist proxy war against India.

Pakistan dismisses threat to it coming from the Islamic State. Pakistan denies that it ever sold nuclear technology to a foreign country. These denials have not helped Pakistan from escaping from its low standing in the world as a country that has adopted terror as a state policy. Can it be doubted that Pakistan is a fertile ground for all sorts of extremist activities, including IS? And does it look impossible that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons will not be exported, overtly or covertly, to extremist groups? The Jury is out.

– See more at: http://www.dailykashmirimages.com/news-islamic-state-lays-claim-on-pak-nukes-79714.aspx#.dpuf

Islamic state will smuggle Pakistani nuke (Dan 8:5)

 
Islamic State Says It Has Enough Money to Buy Pakistani Nuclear Weapon and Smuggle It Into U.S. From Mexico ‘to Pull Off Something Truly Epic’

May. 25, 2015 6:10am Sharona Schwartz

The Islamic State group has suggested it could buy a nuclear weapon over the next year and smuggle it into the U.S. from Mexico.

The claim was made in an article allegedly penned by British hostage John Cantlie in the latest issue of Dabiq, the group’s English-language propaganda magazine.

The article titled “The Perfect Storm” alleges that the group has amassed enough funds to purchase the weapon from Pakistan.

The Islamic State group’s English-language propaganda magazine threatened the “Perfect Storm” of purchasing a nuclear weapon and smuggling it over the southern U.S. border.

“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table. The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah [province] in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region,” the magazine stated.

According to the hypothetical scenario, the weapon could be transported on land to Libya then moved to Nigeria, after which it would be loaded onto a ship used normally for illegal drugs. Eventually it would get to Central America, then Mexico and into the U.S.

“From there it’s just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and hey presto, they’re mingling with another 12 million ‘illegal’ aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk of their car,” Cantlie allegedly wrote.

“Perhaps such a scenario is far-fetched but 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,” the article stated. “And if not a nuke, what about a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive? That’s easy enough to make.”

The magazine asserted that the Islamic State is “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.”

(H/T: Independent)

The Abomination Of Desolation (Dan 9:27)

 

ISIS to smuggle its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan, mulls attack on US: Report

The Economic Times

There is an “infinitely” greater chance of IS smuggling its first nuclear weapon from Pak to attack the US, as per the dreaded group’s propaganda magazine.

LONDON: There is an “infinitely” greater chance of the cash-rich Islamic State smuggling its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan to attack the US within a year, according to the latest edition of the dreaded group’s propaganda magazine.

In what seems to be an exaggerated article in the IS’ new edition of Dabiq, its English-language online magazine, attributed to British journalist John Cantlie, the outfit has suggested a unification of militant Islamist groups across the Middle East, Africa and Asia to create one global movement.

The terror group that has executed a number of Westerners in the past months said it can use the “billions of dollars” in its coffers to purchase its first nuclear acquisition within a year.

It has used photojournalist Cantlie – held hostage for over two years by the terror group also acronymed as ISIS or ISIL – regularly in its propaganda.

The article titled ‘The Perfect Storm’ reads: “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah (chapter) in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.”

It raises a “hypothetical” possibility under which ISIS operatives in Pakistan bribe an official to provide them with a nuclear device which is then smuggled into America via Libya, Nigeria and Mexico, The Telegraph reported.

The article presumed to be written under pressure but in his hallmark style combining hyperbole, metaphor and sarcasm, Cantlie says that US President Barack Obama’s policies for containing the group have demonstrably failed and increased the risk to America.

It comes at a time when the Islamic State group fighters have gained grounds in Syria and Iraq, storming the museum in the ancient city of Palmyra and capturing Ramadi, capital of Iraq’s largest province.

The loss of Ramadi has been termed as a “tactical setback” by Obama, who has insisted that the US-led coalition’s campaign againt the terror outfit is “not losing”.

Cantlie says it is no secret that the ISIS is planning to attack America on a large-scale, having 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.

“Perhaps such a scenario is far-fetched but 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 tonnes of ammonium nitrate explosive? That’s easy enough to make,” he writes.

ISIS Will Launch Nuclear Bomb In US In 1 Year (Dan 8:5)

 
ISIS propaganda claims the group will have nuclear weapons within a year

MAY 23, 2015 1:56PM

HARRY TUCKER and NETWORK WRITERS news.com.au

THIS is the terrifying reality ISIS thinks it can achieve in a year — holding the world to ransom with nuclear weapons.

Reports out of an ISIS propaganda magazine claim that Islamic State are set to come into possession of their first nuclear bomb “within a year”.

Their plan is to either gain hold of an atomic device by purchasing it from weapons dealers with links to corrupt Pakistani officials.

The group admits however that they might face some challenges in obtaining such a weapon and would instead settle for a “few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive” instead.

The article says:

“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table.

“The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.”

“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.”

The piece is allegedly written by British hostage and journalist John Cantille and also claims that a future attack on the West would dwarf any of “the attacks of the past”.

The writer adds that, “They’ll 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 new propaganda comes after two big victories for Islamic State in the last week, including seizing almost full control of the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra after government defence lines collapsed.

The fall of the town to the Islamic State group is a stunning defeat for President Bashar Assad’s forces, days after IS militants launched their offensive against Palmyra in central Syria.

It is also an enormous loss to the government, not only because of its cultural significance, but because it would open the way for extremists to advance to key government-held areas, including Homs and Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for human rights reported that government forces collapsed in the face of IS attacks and withdrew from the town late yesterday.

The ruins at Palmyra are one of the region’s most renowned historic sites, and there are fears the extremists would destroy them as they did major archaeological sites in Iraq.

The Iraqi Horn: Isis To Go Nuclear (Dan 8)

 Isis claims it could buy its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan within 12 months
‘We’re looking to do something big, something truly epic’
By HEATHER SAUL
Friday 22 May 2015
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.

The ISIS Dirty Bomb Is NOT Nuclear Science, But It Will Be Large And Very Radioactive

How Dirty Bombs Work

by Tom Harris | How Stuff Works

A dirty bomb is an explosive designed to spread dangerous radioactive material over a wide area. When people hear “bomb” and “radioactive” in the ­same sentence, their minds jump to nuclear war pretty quickly. But it turns out that a dirty bomb’s primary destructive power would probably be panic, not radiation damage.

A dirty bomb is much closer in power to an ordinary explosive than it is to the widespread destructive force of a nuclear bomb. But the fear of contamination could be debilitating, in the same way that 2001’s anthrax scare in the United States terrorized much of the American populace, even though only a few people were infected.

In this article, we’ll find out what dirty bombs are and what they do. We’ll also explore what might happen if one actually went off in a public area, and consider some of the consequences of this sort of attack.
­
Conceptually, a dirty bomb (or radiological dispersion bomb) is a very simple device. It’s a conventional explosive, such as TNT (trinitrotoluene), packaged with radioactive material. It’s a lot cruder and cheaper than a nuclear bomb, and it’s also a lot less effective. But it does have the combination of explosive de­struction and radiation damage.

High explosives inflict damage with rapidly expanding, very hot gas. The basic idea of a dirty bomb is to use the gas expansion as a means of propelling radioactive material over a wide area rather than as a destructive force in its own right. When the explosive goes off, the radioactive material spreads in a sort of dust cloud, carried by the wind, that reaches a wider area than the explosion itself.

The long-term destructive force of the bomb would be ionizing radiation from the radioactive material. Ionizing radiation, which includes alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays and X-rays, is radiation that has enough energy to knock an orbital electron off of an atom. Losing an electron throws off the balance between the atom’s positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons, giving the atom a net electrical charge (the atom becomes an ion). The free electron may collide with other atoms to create more ions. (See How Atoms Work for more information on subatomic particles.)

If this happens in a person’s body, the ion can cause a lot of serious problems, because an ion’s electrical charge may lead to unnatural chemical reactions inside cells. Among other things, the charge can break DNA chains. A cell with a broken strand of DNA will either die or the DNA will develop a mutation. If a lot of cells die, the body can develop various diseases. If the DNA mutates, a cell may become cancerous, and this cancer may spread. Ionization radiation may also cause cells to malfunction, resulting in a wide variety of symptoms collectively referred to as radiation sickness. Radiation sickness can be deadly, but people can survive it, particularly if they receive a bone marrow transplant.

In a dirty bomb, the ionizing radiation would come from radioactive isotopes (also called radioisotopes). Radioactive isotopes are simply atoms that decay over time. In other words, the arrangement of protons, neutrons and electrons that make up the atom gradually changes, forming different atoms. This radioactive decay releases a lot of energy in the form of ionizing radiation. (See How Nuclear Radiation Works for details on radiation and radioactive isotopes.)

We’re exposed to small doses of ionizing radiation all the time — it comes from outer space, it comes from natural radioactive isotopes, it comes from X-ray machines. This radiation can and does cause cancer, but the risk is relatively low because you only encounter it in very small doses.

A dirty bomb would boost the radiation level above normal levels, increasing the risk of cancer and radiation sickness to some degree. Most likely, it wouldn’t kill many people right away, but it could possibly kill people years down the road. ­

 Dirty Bomb Possibilities

There is a huge range of possible dirty bomb designs. Different explosive materials, applied in different quantities, would generate explosions of varying sizes, and different types and quantities of radioactive material would contaminate an area to different degrees. Some designs include:

• A small bomb, consisting of one stick of dynamite and a very small amount of radioactive material
• A medium-size bomb, such as a backpack or small car filled with explosives and a greater amount of radioactive material
• A large bomb, such as a truck filled with explosives and a good amount of radioactive material

The builders of these bombs wouldn’t have much trouble getting their hands on high explosives — dynamite is readily available, and TNT isn’t too hard to come by. The main limitation on the bomb would be the available radioactive material.

It’s not nearly as accessible as explosive material, but there are a number of sources for radioactive material around the world. For example:

• Hospitals use small quantities of radioactive material, such as cesium-137, in nuclear medicine.
• Universities use similar materials to conduct scientific research.
• Food irradiation plants use radiation from cobalt-60 to kill harmful bacteria on food. (See CDC: Frequently Asked Questions about Food Irradiation for more information.)
• Natural radioactive uranium isotopes are mined for use in nuclear energy. Terrorists could conceivably acquire uranium from various mines in Africa.
• There are a number of abandoned “nuclear batteries” scattered around the former Soviet Union. These portable thermoelectric generators contain a sizable amount of strontium-90, a highly potent radioactive isotope. (Check out Makings of a ‘Dirty Bomb’ for more information.)
• People could also collect spent radioactive fuel from Russian reactors, which have been abandoned in old nuclear submarines, among other places.
• They could also put something together using various low-level radioactive materials available to anybody, such as the radioactive material in smoke alarms. Tale of the Radioactive Boy Scout is good evidence that this is a very real possibility.

The big question, of course, is what would actually happen if someone set off a bomb containing any of this material. As it turns out, there isn’t a clear answer. Ask 10 different experts and you’ll probably get 10 slightly different answers. In the next section, we’ll explore the various possible scenarios.

Dirty Bomb Damage

It’s difficult to predict the extent of a dirty bomb’s damage because there are a huge number of variables at work. The type and quantity of the explosives and radioactive material make a big difference, of course, but completely random things like wind speed would also have an effect. There’s also a lot of debate on what the long-term health effects would be.

The most likely dirty bomb would contain a small or medium amount of explosives (10 to 50 pounds [4.5 – 23 kg] of TNT, for example) with a small amount of low-level radioactive material (say a sample of cesium-137 or cobalt-60 from a university lab).

This sort of bomb wouldn’t be terribly destructive. Most likely, any immediate deaths (and all property damage) would be from the explosive itself rather than the radiation. The explosive would act as a propellant force for the radioactive material. A radioactive dust cloud would extend well beyond the explosion site, possibly covering several square miles. Bombs containing radioactive waste from nuclear power plants or portable nuclear generators would inflict more damage, but terrorists would be less likely to use them because they are harder to handle. The bombers could die from exposure just building and transporting the bomb.

If people got rid of contaminated clothes, showered and evacuated the area within a day or so of a small or medium blast, they would probably be fine. The bomb would boost radiation levels above the normal, “safe” level, but not by a lot. In the short term, the human body could handle this increased exposure fairly easily. People very close to the blast could conceivably suffer radiation sickness and might require hospital care.

The main concern would be prolonged exposure. Many radioactive isotopes bind with other materials, including concrete and metal, extremely well. This would make it nearly impossible to completely remove the material without demolishing all contaminated structures. Clean-up crews could wash away a lot of the radioactive material, but a small amount would probably remain in the city for many years, even decades. Anybody living there would be exposed regularly to this radiation, which could conceivably cause cancer.

The question is, would this make a significant health difference? There are two schools of thought on this issue. Many experts have asserted that the health risks would be negligible if the government spent a few weeks or months on clean-up. The radiation level would be only marginally higher than normal, acceptable levels, and it would not significantly increase the risk of developing cancer. (See “Dirty Bombs” Much More Likely to Create Fear than Cause Cancer from the American Institute of Physics for more on this viewpoint.)

The other school of thought asserts that such an attack could make a city uninhabitable for years or decades. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) recently prepared a report detailing three representative scenarios of a dirty bomb attack. In all three scenarios, the FAS asserts that the risk of cancer in some contaminated areas would be so high that the government would desert or demolish the area. These predictions are based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s current guidelines for safe radiation levels. (Check out Dirty Bombs: Response to a Threat for the FAS’ predicted scenarios.)

There’s no precedent for a dirty bomb attack, but we can learn from other incidents of radioactive contamination. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were both exposed to a much larger amount of radioactive material, from an actual nuclear blast, and today, they’re both considered completely safe for habitation. On the other hand, there are still areas around Chernobyl that are considered unsafe because of high radioactivity.

No matter their opinion on the long-term health risks, most experts agree that a dirty bomb would be more of a disruptive weapon than a destructive weapon. The news of radioactive contamination would probably cause widespread panic, and the rush to evacuate the targeted city could actually cause more damage than the bomb itself. A country’s economy could also take a dive, especially if the bomb went off in major city. Even if the government did assure the public that the area was inhabitable, real estate values and tourism could plummet.

This is the precise reason dirty bombs are such an attractive weapon to terrorists. Their main goal is to get people’s attention and inspire terror, two things a dirty bomb would certainly accomplish.

For much more information on dirty bombs, including possible scenarios for such an attack, check out the links on the next page.