Isis-K has focused on Russia for the past couple of years and has often criticized President Vladimir Putin in its propaganda, says the researcher.
US authorities confirmthat behind the Moscow concert hall attack is the terrorist organization Isis-K, which claimed to be the perpetrator of the attack.
The United States says it warned Russia earlier in March of a planned terrorist attack on Moscow that could target large gatherings, including concerts.
It is a branch of the Isis organization that operates especially in Afghanistan.
The researchers interviewed by the Reuters news agency say that the organization’s attack on Russia was expected.
– For the past couple of years, Isis-K has focused on Russia and often criticized it Putin in its propaganda, says a senior researcher Colin Clarke from the American think tank Soufan Center.
According to Clarke, the background of the bitterness is Russia’s military actions in Syria and Chechnya, as well as the Soviet Union’s attack on Afghanistan.
The terrorist organization blames the Russian regime for oppressing Muslims, says a researcher at another think tank, the Wilson Center. Michael Kugelman.
According to him, the organization includes, among other things, Central Asian militants opposed to the Russian regime.
Isis-K also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Russian embassy in Kabul in September 2022.
Earlier this week, German police arrested two Afghan men who were planning an armed terrorist attack on the Swedish Parliament.
According to the prosecutor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the men had joined the Isis-K organization last year.
In 2021, Isis-K came to wider awareness when it carried out a terrorist attack on the Kabul airport, where people were being evacuated after the Taliban took power in the country. Thirteen US soldiers and about 170 civilians died in the attack.
The news is updated.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, STT