IG*GETTY The Islamic State could be on the brink of using nuclear weapons

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Harvard researcher Matthew Bunn revealed that extremist groups such as ISIS are “evolving” and could be armed with nuclear weapons in the near future. The report on Managing the Atom by the US university researcher details the threat of three types of nuclear or radiological terrorism.

IG Research claim the evil group and other terrorist groups could have acquired nuclear arms

This includes detonation of a nuclear bomb, sabotage of a nuclear facility and use of a dirty bomb to spread radioactive material. But the report looks in greater detail at the possibility of a nuclear bomb being detonated as it would be “most catastrophic”. The report comes as the Nuclear Security Summit sets to take place today in Washington.

GETTY Barack Obama will lead the summit today

Western leaders including David Cameron are growing increasingly fearful that terrorist groups are closer than ever to their goal of obtaining a chemical or nuclear warhead. The authors also wrote: “The radiation from a dirty bomb, by contrast, might not kill anyone—at least in the near term—but could impose billions of dollars in economic disruption and cleanup costs.

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“The effects of sabotage of a nuclear facility would depend heavily on the specific nature of the attack, but would likely range between the other two types of attack in severity. “The difficulty of achieving a successful sabotage is also intermediate between the other two.”

GETTY The report looks at possible sabotage by terrorists on nuclear power plants