US launches airstrikes on new terror outfit “Khorosan”

World Today

Arab and Western powers agree that Islamic State must be stopped in its deadly mission to carve out a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But right now, the United States is going it alone against another terrorist group intent on Western targets rather than the Muslim world. CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports with more on the “Khorasan.”

Tuesday the United States launched airstrikes against the group’s compound west of Aleppo, Syria. U.S officials say the group thought to number less than 100– was formed by elite members of Al Qaeda who traveled to Syria to take advantage of the instability created by the civil war and the foreign fighters who have flooded the region.

The name Khorasan is a reference to historic Islamic lands in modern day Iran, Afghanistan and other parts of Central Asia. The group is led by Mushin al-Fadhli – a veteran al Qaeda financier linked to the September 11th 2001 attacks and other plots. The U.S has a $7 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Khorasan is thought to have enlisted the services of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s master bomb maker Ibrahim al Asiri to develop new types of explosives. Those bombs could then be snuck onto airplanes a perennial al Qaeda target.

American officials say they needed to act against Khorasan now because the group was close to carrying out their plot against the United States.

CCTV America’s Mike Walter interviews Lieutenant Commander Jack Stewart from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to talk about the fight against the Islamic State militants and the “Khorasan.”