More than 133 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a brazen attack on concertgoers before a performance by a Soviet-era rock band at Moscow's Crocus Town Hall on Friday.
The concert venue was engulfed in flames and the roof collapsed after the deadly attack, in which assailants wearing camouflage uniforms reportedly opened fire and threw explosives inside the concert venue.
Russia's Interfax news agency reported early Saturday that 11 people had been detained, including four directly involved in the armed violence.
According to Reuters, the Afghan branch of ISIL – also known as the Islamic State of Khorasan province (ISKP) (ISIS-K) – claimed responsibility for the attack, and U.S. officials confirmed the claims were true. .
Here's what we know about this group and possible motives for the Moscow attack.
ISIL's Afghanistan branch
The group (also known as ISIS-K) remains one of ISIL's most active affiliates, and its title refers to the ancient caliphate of the region that once encompassed areas of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. It comes from the system.
The group emerged from eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and was made up of defectors from the Pakistani Taliban and local fighters loyal to late ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Since then, the group has established a fearsome reputation for brutality.
Murat Aslan, a military analyst and former Turkish army colonel, said ISIL's Afghan branch is known for its “radical and harsh methods.”
“I think their ideology is what inspires them in terms of choosing their targets. First of all, Russia is fighting Daesh in Syria. [ISIL] Like in the US. That means they are hostile to such countries,” Aslan told Al Jazeera.
“They are in Moscow now. Previously they were in Iran, but we will probably see more attacks in other capitals as well,” he added.
Although Taliban membership in Afghanistan is said to have declined since peaking around 2018, its fighters remain one of the greatest threats to Taliban authority in Afghanistan.
Past attacks by the group
ISIS-K fighters claimed responsibility for a 2021 attack outside Kabul airport that killed at least 175 civilians, killed 13 U.S. soldiers and injured dozens.
The ISIL affiliate was previously accused of carrying out a bloody attack on a maternity ward in Kabul in May 2020, killing 24 people, including women and infants. In November of the same year, the group attacked Kabul University, killing at least 22 teachers and students.
In September 2022, the group took responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul.
Iran blamed the group for two separate attacks on Shah Cherag, a major shrine in southern Shiraz, last year that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 40.
The United States claimed to have intercepted communications confirming that the group was preparing for an attack before a coordinated suicide bombing that killed nearly 100 people in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman in January. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the Kerman attack.
Why is ISIL attacking Russia?
In recent years, the group has targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin with propaganda over Russia's alleged oppression of Muslims, defense and security analysts said.
Amira Jadoon, assistant professor at Clemson University in South Carolina and co-author of “The Islamic State of Afghanistan and Pakistan: Strategic Alliances and Conflicts'' -K said that it has become a focus. “The Great Propaganda War.”
“Russia is involved in the global fight against ISIS and its affiliates, particularly through military operations in Syria and efforts to establish ties with ISIS-K’s rivals, the Afghan Taliban, and we believe that Russia /It shows that it is a significant enemy for ISIS-K,” Jadoon told Al Jazeera.
Jadoon won support by demonstrating that if the Moscow attack was “clearly attributed to ISIS-K,” the group could launch an attack inside Russian territory, adding that “a terrorist with global influence” “We want to advance our goal of evolving into an organization,” he said.
“ISK has consistently demonstrated its ambition to evolve into a powerful regional organization. By turning its attacks on countries such as Iran and Russia, ISK is not only facing off against regional heavyweights; , it also underlines its political relevance and scope of operations on the world stage,” said Jadoon.
Kabir Taneja, a research fellow in the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation think tank based in New Delhi, India, told Al Jazeera that Russia is seen by ISIL and its affiliates as a “crusader against Muslims.” Told.
“Russia has been a target of ISIS from the beginning, and not just ISKP (ISIS-K),” said Taneja, author of the book The ISIS Peril.
“ISKP was attacked [the] “For months, Russian security services have stepped up efforts to crack down on the pro-ISIS ecosystem both inside Russia and around its borders, particularly in Central Asia and the Caucasus region,” he said, adding that he was stationed at the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022. said.
In early March, Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, announced that it had thwarted an ISIL plot to attack a synagogue in Moscow.
ISIL and Russia have also long been adversaries in other theaters, such as Syria, where Moscow's air power and support for the Bashar al-Assad regime have helped push back gains made by ISIL fighters earlier in the conflict. was extremely important. The Russian military has also been accused by human rights groups and other opposition fronts in Syria of abuses and excesses against civilians through its bombing campaign.
Close ties between Moscow and Israel are also anathema to ISIL's ideology, Taneja said.
“So this friction is not new ideologically, but tactically it is very important,” he told Al Jazeera.
There is also another factor. The militant group, which had largely remained out of the world's attention, has regrouped into a formidable force after setbacks in Syria and Iran.
“ISKP in Afghanistan has grown significantly…and not just ISKP, but also ISIS in its original areas of operation in Syria and Iraq. [an] It will improve our operational capabilities,” Taneja said. Now, he added, it is “stronger ideologically, if not politically, tactically and strategically… it's not that powerful anymore.”
That poses a challenge in a world of distractions, he says.
“At a time when great power competition and global geopolitical changes have put counterterrorism on the back burner, the big question is how to counter it,” Taneja added.
Abdul Basit, a senior associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said ISIS-K's social media channels were “jubilant” in the wake of the Moscow attack.
“They are celebrating the attack,” Basit told Al Jazeera, adding that his supporters were “translating and redistributing the statement of responsibility” published by the ISIL-linked Amaq news agency. .
Basit said ISIL's operational methodology includes escalating its propaganda efforts before major attacks, which was also observed in recent anti-Russian messages. Such attacks “increase the credibility” of armed groups, which “expands their scope for funding, recruitment and propaganda,” Basit explained.
He said further attacks in Russia and other regions were likely, given that ISIL recruits from Central Asia, especially Tajiks, played a key role when ISIL held territory in Syria. He added that there is. They are now back in the Central Asia region, and their intent to carry out attacks has now materialized as a capability, Basit said.
Past attacks in Russia
Moscow and other Russian cities have been targeted in the past.
In 2002, Chechen fighters took more than 900 people hostage at Moscow's Dubrovka Theater, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and an end to Russia's war on the region.
Russian special forces attacked the theater to end the standoff, leaving 130 people dead, most suffocated by gas used by security forces to render the Chechen fighters unconscious.
Russia's deadliest attack was the Beslan school siege in 2004, carried out by members of a Chechen armed group seeking independence for Chechnya from Russia. The siege left 334 people dead, including 186 children.
