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A U.S. soldier on active duty at a military base in Hawaii pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and said that he wanted to “kill a bunch of people” with his rifle, according to the FBI.
Authorities arrested 34-year-old Ikaika Erik Kang in Waipahu, Honolulu, on Saturday on terrorism charges, including alleged support for ISIS. The first class sergeant in the U.S. military appeared in a Honolulu court Monday.
A 26-page FBI affidavit, seen by the Associated Press, details the year-long investigation into Kang, his alleged extremist views and intention to provide material assistance to ISIS.
Kang, an air traffic controller stationed at the Wheeler Army Airfield, copied secret army documents in 2015 and sought to pass them to undercover agents he believed would give them to ISIS, it says. He also admitted to pledging allegiance to the jihadi group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Kang pledged allegiance Saturday at a residence in Honolulu, according to the affidavit, when he met an undercover agent who he believed to be an ISIS member, He made combat videos for the group with the agent, and helped him buy a drone intended to be sent to ISIS to help its fighters evade U.S. tank teams. He believed drones would help the group’s fighters find “tank positions and avenues for escape” in their besieged areas of control in Iraq and Syria.