UN Secretary-General warns of ISIS spread in Asia

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned in a press conference in New York that ISIS has been spreading within Southeast Asia through various terrorist organizations including Tehreek-e-Khilafat in Pakistan and Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines.

The recent expansion of ISIS across western and northern parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East has proved how alarming the threat is, Ban Ki-Moon reported to the Security Council. He added that the terrorist group has continued to expand their network of sympathizers and contacts in Afghanistan and Pakistan through attacks that carry the ISIS name.

Last month, Khorasan Province, a branch of the militant Islamic group, issued a statement claiming responsibility for an attack at the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Ban Ki-moon further stated that many of the local groups were attracted to the ideologies brought about by extremist Islamic beliefs of the Islamic State, and were likely to pledge their alliance to the self-proclaimed "religious representative of Allah in Earth" and leader to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Moon added that the UN have estimated around 30,000 international terrorist fighters are somehow connected to ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.

By the end of 2015, 34 terrorist groups worldwide have reportedly pledged their allegiance to the extremists, Foreign Policy reported.

The ability of the Islamic State to carry out complex strategic attacks was meant to inspire individual terrorists. Ban Ki-Moon stated the attacks in San Bernardino as one of the examples.

In his 23-page report, he noted that the growing population and speed of which they could adapt to the changing environment to persuade like-minded people through the use of social media has become a serious growing threat to international security and peace.