This is what is known after IS-K claimed responsibility for the Moscow massacre
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a concert hall in a Moscow suburb that killed at least 133 people, Russia’s deadliest attack in years. Although the US says it has evidence supporting the jihadists’ claim, that did not stop Moscow and Kiev from pointing fingers at each other on Saturday as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Much remains unknown about the attack on Friday evening, including whether it was related to a security alert issued by the US embassy in Moscow two weeks earlier and whether it signals a resurgence of the group in the West.
Russia continues the investigation after the arrest of eleven suspects, but it was not possible to confirm the authenticity of the statements of Russian investigators.
Here’s an overview of what’s known so far.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, first Friday and then again Saturday, on the social media channels they typically use to make statements. In their statement on Saturday, they said the attack took place in the natural context of the ongoing war between the extremist group and countries they accuse of fighting Islam.
IS is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, which took over much of Iraq and Syria in 2014. It launched a genocidal campaign against the Yazidis, a religious minority living in northern Iraq, and other groups. By 2018, the country had been largely defeated on the battlefield by a US-led coalition, but it continues to operate in desert hideouts in both countries. The regional branches are also present in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Far East.
A Pakistani security analyst, Syed Muhammad Ali, said if the group is confirmed to have carried out the horrific concert hall massacre, it could be seen as revenge for Russian airstrikes on IS hideouts in Syria. He noted that the group has been severely damaged by Russian airstrikes in Syria in recent years.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press that U.S. agencies said IS-K, a Central Asian affiliate of the Islamic State group, was responsible for the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that IS-K has long targeted Russia.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it disrupted an attack by the same group that targeted a synagogue in Moscow several weeks ago.
The group takes its name from the Khorasan province, a region that covered much of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia in the Middle Ages. The department started with several hundred Pakistani Taliban fighters who took refuge across the border in Afghanistan after Pakistani military operations drove them from their homeland. Its fighters have carried out repeated attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
IS-K has thousands of members and is the Taliban’s bitterest enemy and greatest military threat. The group has continued to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and beyond since the Taliban took power. They were behind the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport, which killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. IS-K also claimed responsibility for the bombing in Kerman, Iran, in January that killed 95 people during a memorial parade for General Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
One security expert, Olivier Guitta, says there is much to support Islamic State’s claim, including the fact that the group has specifically threatened Russia.
He noted that it took place on a Friday during the holy month of Ramadan, a time preferred by jihadists. And once again the target was a concert hall, just like in the attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris in 2015 and the attack on the Manchester Arena in 2017.
The attack’s modus operandi is classic ISIS, Guitta said, using an acronym referring to the Islamic State group. He is director of GlobalStrat, an international security and risk consultancy in London.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert to U.S. citizens on March 7, saying it was monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts.
Putin denounced the US warning as an attempt to scare the Russians.
The March 7 warning advised U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for the next 48 hours. The bloody attack took place more than two weeks later.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 24, 2024 | 7:15 am IST