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The U.S. has attributed Friday’s terrorist attack on the Moscow concert hall to ISIS-K, but who is this group, and what is their interest in Russia?
“The Islamic State is leveraging its network of jihadists throughout Central Asia to plot and execute attacks, such as the one in Moscow,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and founding editor of “The Long War Journal,” told Fox News Digital.
“The Islamic State appeals to the less patient and more fervent jihadists who aren’t on board with Al Qaeda’s more strategic, long-term plan,” Roggio added.
Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, took credit for a deadly attack in Moscow that killed at least 133 people, leading to the arrest of 11 suspects — four of whom were directly involved with the attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation in a television broadcast about the “bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and declared March 24 a day of mourning.
Gen. Michael Kurilla, leader of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), testified in March 2023 that ISIS-K would be able to carry out “an external operation against U.S. or Western interests abroad in under six months with little-to-no warning,” but he stressed that attacking the U.S. would prove “much harder for them.”
The Biden administration last year warned Iran of an impending attack, which ultimately occurred at the memorial ceremony for Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in January 2024. The twin bombings killed at least 94 people and injured 284 others, and ISIS-K quickly took credit for the attacks.
Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen leave a bus near the burning building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)
ISIS-K also plotted to target embassies, churches, business centers and the FIFA World soccer tournament in Qatar, according to classified intelligence that leaked as part of Massachusetts Air National Guardman Jack Teixeira’s data dump on a Discord social media server.
“Pentagon officials were aware in December of nine such plots coordinated by ISIS leaders in Afghanistan, and the number rose to 15 by February, says the assessment, which has not been disclosed previously,” The Washington Post reported on the leak.
“ISIS has been developing a cost-effective model for external operations that relies on resources from outside Afghanistan, operatives in target countries, and extensive facilitation networks,” the assessment continued. “The model will likely enable ISIS to overcome obstacles — such as competent security services — and reduce some plot timelines, minimizing disruption opportunities.”
Counterterrorism officials in Europe also claimed to have stymied several ISIS-K plots in recent months, according to The New York Times.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Anders Hagstrom and Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
