Bhubaneswar: The terror attack on New Year Day at New Orleans in USA killing 15 has put the glare on ISIS terror threat to US. The scrutiny on ISIS has grown big after FBI made the following statement on the New Year Day terror attack.
WHAT FBI SAID?
In a press statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) highlighted the following aspects of the terror attack at New Orleans.
- An individual drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens of others.
- After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement.
- Law enforcement returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene.
- Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.
- The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas.
- He was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle.
- An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
- Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle.
- Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter.
- The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.
- The FBI, with our partners, will investigate this as an act of terrorism.
- We are aggressively running down all leads to identify any possible associates of the subject.
- The FBI has set up a digital tip line, seeking information or video of the incident to submit them to www.fbi.gov/bourbonstreetattack or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
A glance at the above FBI highlights suggests the following.
- This is an act of terror.
- Home-grown ISIS extremist behind the terror attack
- He was not the lone attacker as, FBI says, the attacker was driving a vehicle rented from budget car rental app Turo.
- Because on the same day another rented Tesla was exploded in Nevada, and that rented vehicle has also been rented from the same rental app Turo.
- Moreover, both attacks happened around the same time.
DID USA KNOW ABOUT THE ATTACK COMING?
Well, if one takes a glance at the 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment report released by Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA), it seems the US intel agencies see it coming in 2025. But it happened on Day 1 itself. Here are the report findings.
- It at the outset had said, “Over the next year, the terrorism threat environment in the Homeland will remain high.”
- It then had explained why it has assessed so.
- Explaining its assessment, the OIN report said a confluence of factors this year ----
- including violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments—especially the 2024 election cycle
- And international events that domestic and foreign violent extremists likely will use to justify or encourage attacks in the Homeland.
- Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat of carrying out attacks with little to no warning.
- Meanwhile, foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and their supporters will maintain their enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland.
- Therefore, it said:
- Looking into 2025, the threat of violence from US-based violent extremists—including DVEs (Domestic Violence Extremists) who are motivated by various ideologies,
- And Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO)-inspired homegrown violent extremists (HVEs)—will remain high.
- It then added, the threat will continue to be characterized primarily by lone offenders or
- Small cells motivated to violence by a combination of racial, religious, gender, or anti-government grievances; conspiracy theories and personalized factors.
- The report has clearly taken the names of terror perpetrators
- FTOs, like ISIS and al-Qa‘ida, maintain the enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland and have leveraged the conflict in the Middle East to reaffirm this intent.
- These organizations maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could target the Homeland
- FTO media outlets promote violent rhetoric intended to inspire US persons to mobilize to violence
- The report then explained US Homeland security agencies’ inability to neutralize such terror attacks in advance.
- It explained the WHY?
- A number of violent extremists embrace multiple, sometimes competing motivations, challenging our ability to identify their potential targets in advance
- because their pre-attack statements online are often unrelated or only loosely related to the targets they ultimately choose.
A glance at the 2025 OIN report on US Homeland Security clearly outlines the following.
- America is expecting a heightened risk of such lone or small cell terror attack inside US
- The trigger for such attack has been attributed to the Israel- Hamas conflict in middle east.
- And at the same time, the OIN report expressed its inability to pre-empt such terror strikes in advance.
NEEDLE OF SUSPICION ON ISIS-K?
As per US intelligence reports, following ISIS’s loss of territorial control in the Middle East in 2019 and three of its most senior leaders in 2022, ISIS’s branches have taken a greater role in conducting operations on behalf of the group.
ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K)—It is ISIS’s regional branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan. US Intelligence reports found that this branch of ISIS has its eyes on USA.
- As per the OIN report, ISIS-K has been increasingly active outside of Afghanistan in 2025,
- and will likely try to capitalize on its notable 2024 attacks in Iran and Russia to recruit followers in the Homeland and the West, as well as inspire individuals to mobilize to violence.
- ISIS-K’s online media, particularly its multilingual Voice of Khurasan magazine, have also used the Israel-HAMAS conflict to encourage attacks against the West and Jewish and Christian communities.
- According to ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence), the largest ISIS threat to the United States emanates from these ISIS branches, such as ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), that have the ambition and capabilities to conduct attacks beyond the Central Asia region
- ISIS-K in Afghanistan remains an important and powerful affiliate due to its role as a regional hub, transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to financial facilitators as well as providing personnel and weapons to support external operations.
- ISIS-K, have increased their understanding of virtual assets (crypto assets).
- Some fundraising networks generated funds for this specific purpose in Indonesia, Türkey, the United States, and elsewhere, which were then transferred via hawala networks to al-Hawl, an ISIS displacement camp in Syria.
- The report details how ISIS-K raising and transferring money.
- Individuals may coordinate the donations through encrypted mobile applications like Telegram, send the funds in the form of virtual assets, wire them abroad through a fiat money service business (MSB), or, if collected in cash, pass them to couriers.
ISIS RECENT ACTIVITIES IN USA: TIMELINE
- As per the ODNI report,
- In May 2023, U.S. authorities arrested an American citizen and charged him with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in the form of collecting, transmitting, receiving, and distributing money to ISIS members.
- In October 2023, an American citizen was indicted for knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources that he intended to go to ISIS.
BOTTOMLINE: The above latest US Intel reports clearly hinted at the ability of ISIS-K at present to go for external operations, it is widely assumed that the New Year Day lone terror attacks in US might be the operation of Pak-Afghan branch of ISIS.
