ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, has taken somewhat of a pounding in Iraq recently at the hands of the laser guided missile strikes on their positions in the region, ordered by Barack Obama.

However, according to intelligence reports on Saturday, ISIS is not just going to let the U.S. strikes against them go unnoticed or unpunished. Five intelligence officials told Bloomberg News some worrying things about ISIS and its strategy.

They alleged that the fanatical Islamist terrorist group is planning to carry out major terror attacks against targets in the United States, and possibly in Europe.

According to the intelligence officials, ISIS has sleeper cells around the world, including in Europe and America, whose goal is to gain a greater foothold in the Islamic world, politically and militarily.

U.S. Army Colonel Derek Harvey said that due to Obama’s failed policy in leaving Iraq, the country is now gripped in a “competition for jihadi leadership” between ISIS and Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, following the falling out between the two groups last year.

The Colonel also claimed that President Obama has seriously underestimated ISIS’ hold in Syria in Iraq, as well as what they are capable of in terms of 9/11 type atrocity on mainland America.

The issue with ISIS, as with any terror organisation of their kind like Al-Qaeda or Hamas, is the fact that they hold influence worldwide and not just in the Middle East. There are numerous examples of foreign nationals from France, U.K., Germany and the U.S., who are currently fighting with ISIS in Iraq and Syria who will presumably return to their home countries even more radicalized.

Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant US Secretary of State for Iran and Iraq, warned on the Charlie Rose show last week that ISIS are far worse than Al Qaeda:

“ISIS is better equipped, they’re better manned, they’re better resourced, they’re better fighters, they’re better trained than the Al Qaeda in Iraq that our forces faced. It is a global expansionist, global jihadist organization. It is swollen with foreign fighters and suicide bombers who will go wherever the organization tells them to go. And that could very easily be capitals in the region, it could be capitals in Europe and, God forbid, it could be here.”

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, also weighed in with an article in the Sunday Telegraph addressing the current ISIS threat:

“If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain. I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy, but we need to recognize that the brighter future we long for requires a long-term plan.”

The reports of a possible terror attack in the United States come after reports in the last few days that ISIS slaughtered more than 400 Yazidis in Iraq and more than 700 tribespeople in Syria.

It is hoped by all that the terror and fear that ISIS sew in the Middle East won’t make its way to mainland America. If it does, who knows what implications that could have on the ground as well as in the political arena.