Planning to acquire nuke from Pak: IS

Washington: The Islamic State (IS) has claimed it may acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan within a year to attack the United States. In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the group has published a menacing article attributed to British hostage John Cantlie, who is regularly seen in Isis propaganda videos. IS says that after having seized "tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems, anti-aircraft systems", it will now acquire a nuclear weapon through deals with 'corrupt officials' in Pakistan.

"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," says the article, titled 'The Perfect Storm'. "And if not a nuke, what about a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive? That's easy enough to make," it adds.

The Islamic State has also detailed its plan to move the hypothetical weapon to carry out an attack on the US, which, it says, will make past attacks 'look like a squirrel shoot'. "The nuke and accompanying mujahidin arrive on the shorelines of South America and are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States.