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The Khorasan group – a secret cell comprised of around two dozen elite militants – plan to take down the West, using lone wolf attacks.

The terror group is so small locals in north-east Syria, where Khorasan are based, have called them "the strangers with horses".

And officials from al-Nusra – the Syrian branch of al-Qaida – deny Khorasan even exists, despite supplying all its personnel, training camps and weapons.

But one US official has said the group is close to executing "major attacks against western attacks and potentially US homeland" and had plotted to blow up commercial aircraft.

Not interested in wading into Syria's bloody civil war, Khorasan leaders take on Western recruits who crucially hold European or US passports.

The group's aim is train these jihadis and return them back on long-haul flights to cause death and destruction on our streets.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY)

"If you join Islamic State (ISIS) or Al-Nusra you are more likely to attack your native country," said terror expert Emily Dyer, of Henry Jackson Society.

"Khorasan has shown more intent to send people back than any other group in Syria. It is very, very concerning.

"Its primary focus is transnational terrorist attacks."

Author Will McCants, who wrote The ISIS apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State, revealed "10%" of foreign fighters who return to the UK and the West want to wage war on our streets.

He said: "The one study done of foreign fighters says nine out of 10 of those who do return don't engage in any more mischief.

"It's encouraging on the other hand, but that still leaves you 10% to worry about."

The US has deliberately targeted Khorasan's leaders in response, wiping out five leading militants in recent months.

(Image: PA/ Getty)

The Khorasan ranks are filled with senior ex-al-Qaida operatives – who arrived in Syria from Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran and Pakistan in 2012.

Such is the level of expertise and experience of these jihadis, any of them are capable of leading the group and plotting acts of terror.

Its veteran officers are thought to answer to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

(Image: GETTY)

(Image: REUTERS)

The group "has established a safe haven in Syria to develop external attacks, construct and test explosive devices and recruit Westerners to conduct operations," the Pentagon said.

And it is forced to remain on the move within the region to try and avoid US and Russian air strikes.

"Everywhere they go, the Americans are looking for them," one Syrian official told The Guardian.

"Their houses are getting blown up all the time. I don't doubt that they are planning something outside Syria – but it is impossible to know.

“There are no Syrians working directly for them. Only big men from al-Qaida.”