“ISPK active in ex-Soviet states”
Terror expert believes IS confession is real
March 23, 2024, 12:59 a.m
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After the attack near Moscow that left 62 dead, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. The London terror expert Neumann considers the branch in Afghanistan to be a possible mastermind. The ISPK is busy recruiting in ex-Soviet states in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Terror expert Peter Neumann from King’s College in London believes the letter of responsibility from the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) for the attack near Moscow is genuine. “The message of confession was sent through all official IS channels. I and my colleagues can confirm this 100%,” wrote Neumann on X. The German-born scientist also warned of false news circulating on Russian Telegram channels claiming that the IS message was fake. There is “already a lot of fake news — probably to spin the narrative that Ukraine was responsible for the attack,” wrote Neumann.
Before the IS statement, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened on Telegram that Moscow would kill the Ukrainian leadership if it turned out that they were involved in the attack. Terror expert Neumann pointed out that the US embassy in Moscow had already warned of the danger of an attack in Russia at the beginning of March.
In a message distributed on the Telegram channel of the IS mouthpiece Amak, it was previously said that IS fighters had carried out the attack with dozens of deaths and many injured in the city of Krasnogorsk in the Moscow region and then fled to safety. Neumann rated it as very unlikely that IS would claim responsibility for the attack without actually being behind it. The letter of responsibility alone is not a 100% reliable indication, but in conjunction with the other evidence, he considers it “pretty certain that it has something to do with IS,” said the professor of security studies.
IS branch in Afghanistan recruits in the Caucasus
Neumann made particular reference to the IS offshoot in Afghanistan, which calls itself the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK) and has been waging an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban for several years. The ISPK recruits very actively in ex-Soviet states in Central Asia and the Caucasus and is also associated with plans for Christmas attacks in Cologne, Vienna and Madrid.
Russia has been the target of attacks by Islamist groups in the past. In 2002, Chechen militants took 912 people hostage at Moscow’s Dubrovka Theater to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The hostage crisis ended with an attack by special forces and the deaths of 130 people, almost all of whom suffocated from the gas used by the military.
In September 2004, Chechen extremists broke into a school in Beslan, southern Russia. They took control of around 1,100 children, parents and teachers who were celebrating the start of the new school year. After a three-day siege, security forces violently ended the hostage-taking. According to official information, a total of more than 330 people died, including 180 children.