Report: ISIS obsessed with launching 9/11-style attack using weaponized drones

A British thinktank warns commercially-available drones can easily be weaponized and used by terror groups.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Unmanned aerial vehicle (illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A British thinktank says terror groups like Islamic State can easily outfit commercially-available drones with weapons in order to to carry out large-scale terror attacks.
According to British daily The Guardian on Monday, the Oxford Research Group's Remote Control project analyzed 200 drones that are available for purchase to the public in stores or on the Internet and found that many of them can easily be converted to drop explosives.
“Islamic State is reportedly obsessed with launching a synchronized multi-drone attack on large numbers of people in order to recreate the horrors of 9/11,” they said, noting that "the technology of remote-control warfare is impossible to control."
Among its examples, the report cited Hezbollah's violations of Israeli airspace "with a fleet of an estimated 200 unmanned aerial vehicles."
The report also mentioned an incident in April 2015 when a drone carrying radioactive sand landed on the roof of the Japanese prime minister's office.
A number of measures could prevent such a scenario from happening, such as requiring drones to have licenses, using radio-frequency jammers, laser systems over sensitive sites, as well as training police how to shoot down drones.