FILE – Fighters with IS-Khorasan vow allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, in this photo issued Nov. 5, 2019, by SITE Intelligence Group. The U.S. is assigning responsibility for Friday’s Moscow attack on the group.
Published March 24, 2024
The United States is assigning responsibility for Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people on the Islamic State terror group’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-Khorasan.
A State Department official confirmed to VOA that the U.S. gathered intelligence suggesting IS-Khorasan was planning an “imminent” attack in the Russian capital, leading to a warning earlier this month from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
The official said U.S. intelligence indicates Friday’s deadly attack is the result of that plotting.
So far, the claims of responsibility for the Moscow attack have come from IS news agencies or from other IS core outlets, with one statement saying the attack was carried out by an IS network in Russia itself.
But U.S. and Western officials have warned repeatedly about IS-Khorasan’s intent to carry out strikes beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
“ISIS-Khorasan continues to harbor intent to conduct external operations and maintains English‑language media releases that aim to globalize the group’s local grievances among Western audiences,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned this past October, using another acronym for the group.
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SOURCE: www.voanews.com
RELATED: Rossomando to Newsmax: US Should Be on ‘Lookout’ for ISIS Attacks
Published March 23, 2024
ISIS-K, the Islamic State group’s branch in Afghanistan that has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow Friday, “views the entire world as its enemy,” and the United States should be watching carefully in the event of an attack on the homeland, defense and counterterrorism analyst John Rossomando said on NewsmaxSaturday.
“You just had the recent statement by the general head of CENTCOM warning that ISIS-K, which is the brass based out of Afghanistan, would be in a position to strike at the U.S. and allied targets,” Rossomando, who appeared with retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America,” commented Saturday.
Thursday, Gen. Michael Kurilla, who heads the U.S. military’s Central Command, told a House committee that the Islamic State group’s branch “retains the capability and the will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning,” reports The New York Times.
ISIS-K, founded in 2015 by members of Pakistan’s Taliban, was behind the Abbey Gate suicide bombing at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021 that killed 13 U.S. troops and as many as 170 civilians.
The United States had warned Russia about the possibility of an attack, according to an official speaking on the condition of anonymity. The official said Washington had warned Moscow “appropriately” in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.
Rossamondo told Newsmax that the warnings, despite the United States’ adversarial relationship with Russia, were because America is interested in”humanitarian peace.”
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SOURCE: www.newsmax.com
RELATED: Why would Islamic State attack Russia and what does this mean for the terrorism threat globally?
Published March 23, 2024
It appears almost certain the brutal assault on a Russian crowd settling down to watch a rock concert in Moscow on Friday night was an Islamist terrorist attack.
At least 133 people were left dead and scores more were injured after gunmen with automatic weapons stormed the Crocus City Hall in Moscow and opened fire, triggering a stampede.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, initially through its Amaq media channel and then directly. The modus operandi of the attack also fits with previous Islamic State attacks.
It has been widely reported the attack was the work of Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), a branch established in 2015 in Afghanistan.
So who is this group, why would they attack Russia and what does this mean for the broader terrorism threat?
What is ISIS-K?
ISIS-K is the Islamic State branch that has most consistently and energetically attempted terrorist attacks across Europe, including in Russia. ISIS-K has planned some 21 attacks in nine countries in the past year, up from eight the previous year.
ISIS-K had been under tremendous pressure from the Afghan Special Forces and American troops before the United States full withdrew from the country in 2021. Although that pressure has continued under Taliban rule, ISIS-K has grown in strength in recent years, with several thousand fighters now operating in almost every one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
If ISIS-K is indeed responsible for the Moscow attack, we should prepare for further attempted attacks – not just in Russia but across Europe.
European authorities have arrested ISIS-K operatives on multiple occasions. After years of warnings that Islamic State was rebuilding the capacity and resolve to resume an international terrorist campaign, Friday’s attack shows the threat is immediate and substantial.
