WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating Islamic State radicalization activity in 50 US states, FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday.
"In all 50 states we have open terrorism investigations related to a number of dimensions of the threat, but in all 50 states we have ISIL [Islamic State] radicalization cases under investigation," Comey said at a US House Homeland Security Committee hearing on national security threats.
The Islamic State is a militant Islamist group in control of large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group is notorious for its brutality and human rights violations, as well as for recruiting globally via social networks.
The United States has the fourth largest number of Islamic State supporters on social media after Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution think tank.