An Al Qaeda cell in Syria that was targeted in American military airstrikes last month could still be working on a plan to attack the United States or its allies and is “looking to do it very, very soon,” the head of the FBI says.
“Given our visibility we know they’re serious people, bent on destruction,” FBI Director James Comey said.
The Khorasan Group, a small but battle-hardened band of Al Qaeda veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, was the target of US strikes near Aleppo, Syria.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Comey said the militants were “working and, you know, may still be working on an effort to attack the United States or our allies, and looking to do it very, very soon.”
Senior US officials have not said whether the group’s plots have been disrupted.
Comey said the US believes there are about a dozen Americans fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria. He said if someone has fought alongside the Islamic State militant group and tries to come back to the US, “we will track them very carefully.”