The terrorist attack that left more than a hundred dead in Moscow, last Friday (22), was claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The terrorists released this Saturday (23) an image of the four alleged perpetrators of the attack.
The announcement was made by the “Amaq” agency, the jihadist group's main propaganda channel on Telegram. The photo shows four people with half their faces covered and wearing hats in front of a large Islamic State flag.
According to the agency, three of these suspected terrorists “began shooting into the crowd” at the Crocus City Hall concert hall, while the fourth set fire to the premises “using bombs that had been prepared in advance for this purpose.”
IS motives
In the same statement from the “Amaq” agency, the terrorists do not speak in detail about the reasons why the target chosen for the attack was Russia.
The group claims, however, that the attack was carried out “in the normal context of war between the Islamic State and countries that fight against Islam.”
The attack in Moscow was allegedly carried out by members of the “Islamic State-K”, a branch of the group that operates in Afghanistan and other countries in the region.
Warnings ignored by Moscow
At the beginning of the month, the United States Embassy in Russia had issued a warning about the possibility of “extremist” attacks being carried out in Moscow.
A report published on the North American broadcaster’s website CNN this Saturday (23) highlights that Russian leader Vladimir Putin even classified the American warnings as “provocative”, saying that “these actions resemble open blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society”.
Hours after Friday's attack, White House Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the United States had alerted the Russian government to the possibility of a “terrorist attack.”
ISIS members killed and recently arrested in Russia
The same report from CNN lists a number of recent occasions when there have been problems relating to members of the Islamic State group in Russia.
The Russian state agency “RIA Novosti” reported on March 3 that six IS members were killed in an anti-terrorist operation in Ingush Karabulak, in the Ingushetia region.
As early as March 7, the agency stated that security services had discovered and “neutralized” an Islamic State cell in the Kaluga region, whose members were planning an attack on a synagogue in Moscow.
Another case occurred on March 20, when it was reported that the commander of an IS combat group had been detained in the country.
Why Russia?
According to CNNtwo sources familiar with U.S. intelligence said that since November there has been a “steady flow of information” that Islamic State-K was determined to attack Russia.
In addition to all the recent situations involving members of IS, Russia has become a kind of adversary of the group's terrorists in Syria.
This is because Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who also waged war against the Islamic State in the country.
The terrorist group “views Russia as complicit in activities that regularly oppress Muslims,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute, from the Washington-based Wilson Center to the agency Reuters.
He further added that the group also has several militants in Central Asia, who have their own grievances against Moscow.
The same report from Reuters highlights that some experts say that the Islamic State-K group has already been constantly opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years.
“Islamic State-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing Putin in its propaganda,” Colin Clarke, research director at the Islamic State-K, told the agency. Soufan Centera New York-based research group.
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