'Target No. 1 for ISIS-K': Terror group that hit Moscow nightclub has sights set on US

ISIS-K, the terrorist organization that killed more than 140 Russians March 22 in Moscow, would like to replicate the attack in the United States, but it lacks the capability, current and former senior U.S. officials say.

“The U.S. remains target No. 1 for ISIS-K,” said Mark Quantock, a retired two-star Army general who oversaw intelligence operations for U.S. Central Command. “They clearly would like to strike the homeland, but their challenge is penetrating our security, which has proven to be quite resilient in recent years.”

Known for its brutality, ISIS-K considers Russia and many Western countries anti-Muslim. Russia has sided with Syrian President Bashar Assad in its civil war, launching airstrikes for years that that have killed Islamic militants and displaced hundreds of thousands of Syrians. The group also regards even hard-line Muslim regimes like the Taliban to be insufficiently devout. It once targeted a maternity clinic in Afghanistan and was responsible for the attack in August 2021 in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. troops and 170 Afghans during the chaotic retreat of Americans and Afghans.