Information about ISIS-K claiming responsibility for the terrorist attack that left at least 133 people dead and nearly 200 injured at a shopping center in Moscow on March 22 was sent to the public via the Telegram messaging platform. . In particular, Amaq news site, affiliated with ISIS-K, said this group organized and carried out the attack.
Crocus City Hall shopping and performing arts center in Moscow (Russia) caught fire after being set on fire by terrorists. Photo: EPA
IS releases photos of attackers in Russia
The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group on Saturday released a photo of what it said were four attackers in a bloody terror attack in Moscow on Friday.
“The attack occurred amid fierce fighting between the Islamic State and anti-Islamic states,” the group's Amaq news website added in a statement citing security sources.
IS claimed responsibility for the attack but Russia maintains links to Ukraine, despite strong denials from Ukrainian officials that Kiev had anything to do with the incident.
It is currently unclear how true the above information is. But first, to understand the big picture, it is necessary to consider what kind of terrorist group ISIS-K is, and if indeed they carried out the bloody attack in Moscow, the motive behind the inhumane act. what is that?
More brutal version of the Taliban
ISIS-K was founded in 2015 by disaffected members of the Pakistani Taliban who wanted to pursue a more violent version of Islam.
Named Khorasan Province – an old term for the region that includes parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, abbreviated as ISIS-K, the group began operating in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and pursued a version of Islam more brutal than the Taliban.
One of the most active affiliates of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS), the ISIS-K group has seen its membership decline since peaking around 2018. .
By 2021, ISIS-K's ranks had been reduced by nearly half, to about 1.500 to 2.000 fighters, as a result of a combination of US airstrikes and crackdowns by Afghan commandos. Many of the group's leaders were killed.
ISIS-K encountered a dramatic second wave of turbulence soon after the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government that year. During the withdrawal of US troops from the country, ISIS-K carried out a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in August 8 that killed 2021 US soldiers and 13 civilians.
The attack raised ISIS-K's international profile, positioning it as a major threat to the Taliban's ability to govern. But since then, the Taliban have increasingly suppressed ISIS-K in Afghanistan. So far, Taliban security forces have prevented the group from seizing territory or recruiting large numbers of frustrated former Taliban fighters in peacetime.
Spreading the tentacles of violence beyond Afghanistan
The Taliban has restrained ISIS-K, preventing them from expanding their area in Afghanistan. But outside Afghanistan, the United States and many of its counterterrorism allies still view the group as a dangerous threat to global security.
ISIS-K fighters are known for their brutality. Photo: Herald Sun
General Michael Kurilla, commander of the US Central Command, told the US Congress last March that ISIS-K was rapidly developing the ability to conduct “external operations” in Europe and Asia. Mr. Kurilla predicted ISIS-K would be able to attack American and Western interests outside Afghanistan “within just six months and with little or no warning.”
ISIS-K has a history of brutal attacks, including attacks on mosques, in and outside Afghanistan. Counterterrorism officials in Europe say ISIS is looking to expand its external operations beyond its "home turf" and in recent months has quashed several new plots by ISIS-K to targets in Europe.
In a post on its official Telegram account in January this year, ISIS-K said the organization was behind the bombing that killed 1 people in Kerman (Iran), during a commemoration of Major General Qassim Suleimani – who was killed in a US drone strike in 84.
ISIS-K, which has repeatedly threatened Iran over what it considers polytheism and apostasy. The group also claimed responsibility for several previous attacks in Iran.
There is notable information that in September 9, ISIS-K also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Russian Embassy in Kabul, killing two embassy employees.
And now, ISIS-K claims responsibility for the bloody attack at Crocus City Hall Shopping and Performing Arts Center, on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow.
“ISIS-K has been focusing its attention on Russia for two years,” said Colin Clarke, counterterrorism analyst at Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York (USA). through" and regularly criticize President Vladimir Putin in their propaganda activities".
Analyst Colin Clarke explains that ISIS-K attacked Moscow because of Moscow's military intervention in the Muslim movement in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria in recent years.
Quang Anh
