Islamic State Terror Camp Spotted In Mexico, Closer To US Border: Police Recover Maps Of US Military Installations During A Raid

After repeatedly threatening the U.S, including its troops, the Islamic State, which is out to form a Islamic caliphate with a violent agenda, seems to have moved closer to the U.S mainland. It is reportedly trying to target the U.S by creating bases in parts of Mexico, which are closer to the U.S. border cities. It has been reported that a ISIS camp was detected, just a few miles from El Paso, Texas. This was stated by sources in the Mexican Federal Police and intelligence.

The terror groups's location in Mexici is some eight miles from the U.S. border in a place called “Anapra”, which is west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. One more ISIS cell was detected in Puerto Palomas, closer to the New Mexico towns of Columbus and Deming, which can give easy access to the United States.

Police Raid

The Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials, in early April, conducted a joint operation in these places and discovered some vital documents in Arabic and Urdu. They also recovered from the militant hideout, “plans” of Fort Bliss – the military installation housing the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division. Some Muslim prayer rugs were also recovered during the operation.

Law enforcement sources said the area around Anapra has become the epi centre of drug mafia and is dominated by the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel, La Línea and the Barrio Azteca gang. The grip of drug cartels makes Anapra an extremely dangerous place and hostile for Mexican Army and Federal Police operations.

Help from Coyotes

According to sources, “coyotes” are helping to move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico. Coyotes are gangs specialized in human smuggling and they work for Juárez Cartel . The cartel-backed “coyotes” are also smuggling ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas.

The ISIS seemed to have chosen these areas because of their understaffed county police forces, making them safe-havens, which are unchecked with large-scale drug smuggling thriving in the area. According to Mexican intelligence sources, ISIS is trying to exploit the railways and airport facilities in the vicinity of Santa Teresa New Mexico, which is a U.S. port-of-entry.

The ISIS is also believed to have “spotters” in the East Potrillo Mountains of New Mexico, which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Some reports also say the ISIS has been conducting reconnaissance of installations including regional universities; White Sands Missile Range; government facilities in Alamogordo, NM; Fort Bliss and power facilities near Anapra and Chaparral, NM.

Al Qaeda Threat

Meanwhile, some security experts have cautioned the United States and allies, that while focusing on the Islamic State, they should not lower the guard on al-Qaeda even though its leader Ayman al Zawahiri has been relatively quiet for many months.

The experts from Atlantic Council panel recently shared their views at the Washington, D.C. think tank, during a discussion. Bruce Hoffman, a long-time counterterrorism expert and professor at Georgetown University, said Zawahiri is unpredictable and he may be planning something, given his intent to remake the terrorist group not just an Arabian Peninsula phenomena, but a global outfit by turning attention to India, which has the second largest Muslim population in the world. It also has plans to build cadres in Myanmar, Maldives, Philippines, Malaysia and beyond.

"They always believed time was on their side and they're just playing the long game," he said. Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution said al-Qaeda was planning to hijack an advanced naval ship from Pakistan, after trying to infiltrate the crew with a plan to take the ship out to sea put it inside a squadron of coalition ships fighting piracy in Somalia and target U.S. ships.

Hoffman said that both kinetic and non-kinetic means are required to fight the terrorist groups. He said the United States is using kinetic, or a traditional approach, with its focus on taking out leaders rather than going all out after the infrastructure that sustains terrorism and insurgency.

Hoffman called up the United States to adopt a more holistic approach by deploying more drones and counterterrorism units, capturing and interrogating terrorists. But he said supporting a progressive reform in the Arab world is also important.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at kalyanaussie@gmail.com)