U.S.

Attack foiled in Ft. Worth day before National Guard troops shot in WDC

Attack foiled in Ft. Worth day before National Guard troops shot in WDC

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(The Center Square) – Another Afghan-related terrorist attack was foiled one day before two National Guardsmen were shot in Washington, D.C., federal authorites said Saturday.

The alleged perpetrators were released into the country through a federal program rife with failures, prompting for calls for others in the program to be deported, citing national security concerns.

On Wednesday, two National Guardsmen were shot by an Afghan national released into the country through the “Operation Allies Welcome” program created by the Biden administration after its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries; Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. Both are from West Virginia.

Authorities identified their shooter as Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who was reportedly part of a CIA “Zero Unit” operating in Afghanistan during the U.S. war against the Taliban, according to multiple news reports. After Beckstrom’s death, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro upgraded the charges against Lakanwal to first degree murder. Initial charges included three counts each for assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.

On Tuesday, another Afghan national released into the country through Operation Allies Welcome was arrested on charges of threatening to blow up a building in Fort Worth, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Saturday.

“Mohammad Dawood Alokozay posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area,” DHS said. He was arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety investigators and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force members and charged with making terroristic threats. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have lodged a detainer request to take him into custody.

The Afghan men were among more than 77,000 who were released into the country who weren’t properly vetted, according to an Inspector General report. It found that the Biden administration “admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States.” It didn’t have their “name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing,” the OIG found.