The Afghan branch of the Islamic State, ISIS-K, orchestrated an Afghan man’s foiled Election Day terror plot, a U.S. official confirmed to NewsNation.
Afghan native Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested in early October and accused of planning to target large groups of people on Nov. 5. He told investigators he and a co-conspirator — whose identity has not been released — planned to die as martyrs.
“As charged, the Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on U.S. soil on Election Day,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement last week.
“We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people,” Garland added.
Tawhedi, who is scheduled to be in court later this week, has not entered a plea and remains in FBI custody.
He first arrived in the United States in September 2021. In the weeks leading up to his arrest, the Oklahoma City resident bought AK-47 rifles, liquidated his family’s assets and purchased one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan, charging documents revealed.