ASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI has arrested four people within the last month in order to disrupt Islamic State-inspired plots, FBI Director James Comey told a panel of U.S. lawmakers on Thursday.

At the same hearing, U.S. National Counterterrorism Director Nicholas J. Rasmussen said Islamic State’s ability to carry out attacks in Iraq, Syria has not significantly diminished even as the militant group has lost ground militarily.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by James Dalgleish)