After Brussels, leaders tackling threat of nuclear terrorism

WASHINGTON — Still reeling from attacks in Brussels and Paris, world leaders are wrestling this week with the chilling prospect of the Islamic State group or other extremists unleashing a nuclear attack on a major Western city.

“We know that terrorist organizations have the desire to get access to these raw materials and to have a nuclear device,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

The most likely scenario that security experts fear is that a group could acquire radioactive material, such as cesium or cobalt, for a dirty bomb that could be carried in a suitcase.