Within days of the attacks, ISIS’ online publication al Nabaa crowed about “raising the Caliphate banner in new arenas… The days are pregnant with more disappointments for the enemies of Allah.” The video was released by a news agency linked to ISIS.
An NFL rookie was shot just hours after he was drafted by the New York Giants
There is much yet to be learned about the organization behind the Sri Lankan attacks, but counterterrorism experts are united on one point: the small Islamist groups on the island could not have carried out such a complex attack without outside help.
That begs several questions: is ISIS successfully exporting expertise in bomb-making, fund-raising and recruitment far beyond what was its core territory? Where is it finding fertile ground? And how far is “ISIS central” — subject to a crippling war of attrition over the last three years — capable of organizing and directing attacks far from its heartland?
