Summit to tackle possibility IS could have ‘dirty bomb’
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The specter of the Islamic States (IS) group obtaining a “dirty bomb’’ will loom over a toplevel nuclear security summit hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday and Friday.
Obama welcomes several leaders from countries as diverse as China and Nigeria, as well as representatives from nearly 50 other nations, for the summit aimed at elevating the problem of shaky safeguards from the desks of technocrats to the highest corridors of power.
The meeting comes just days after 32 people were killed and 340 were injured in bombings at Brussels airport and the Belgian capital’s metro.
The attacks featured conventional explosives, but two of the suicide bombers -- Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui — have been linked to possible efforts by the Islamic States group to secure fissile material.
Late last year, Belgian police investigating the November 13 Paris terror attacks found 10 hours of video surveillance detailing the comings and goings of a senior Belgian nuclear official.
Belgian media have since reported that the brothers were linked to the surveillance.
The incident has only heightened existing concerns about IS efforts to get nuclear material.
“Having a portion of the discussion that is focused on counter-ISIL is a decision that was made in January,’’ said Laura Holgate, the National Security Council’s senior director for weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and threat reduction. “But it turns out that it is obviously very timely, unfortunately.
“The video footage is of concern,’’ she said, adding, with regard to the Belgian case, that the United States does not “have any information that a broader plot exists.’’
But groups like the Islamic State have long shown their interest in obtaining nuclear material.
“We’ve seen over the years that different terrorist organizations have ambitions related to acquiring nuclear materials,’’ said Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.
“We’ve seen that in their public statements, we’ve seen that in some cases in their monitoring of nuclear facilities,’’ he added.
“That’s why the summit process is so important, because different countries have different levels of security at their facilities or in terms of how they are handling nuclear materials.’’