(NewsNation) — The Afghan branch of the Islamic State, ISIS-K, orchestrated an Afghan man’s foiled Election Day terror plot, two senior U.S. officials briefed on the matter told NBC News.
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.
Tawhedi 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.
Those same documents show that Tawhedi, who officials say consumed Islamic State propaganda, was in contact with an ISIS affiliate named “Mailk.”
U.S. Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., told NewsNation local affiliate KFOR his office has been closely following the FBI’s investigation into the plot.
“The details will come out of this case in the days ahead; they did a remarkable job identifying someone who was absolutely planning to kill as many people as possible and die a martyr’s death on behalf of ISIS, had recruited a juvenile to join him. … It’s also a reminder to us that there are still people in the world that mean to do us harm, that hate our freedom,” Lankford said.
“He was picking Election Day with an ISIS affiliation for a reason. That’s a deliberate statement about ‘I hate Americans’ freedom,’” he added.
A family member of Tawhedi was arrested and charged by French law enforcement this past weekend for allegedly planning a similar terror scheme, according to NBC News reporting.
NewsNation has reached out to federal officials about these reports but has not yet heard back.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.