Reuters explains why ISIS staged a terrorist attack in a concert hall near Moscow
ISIS-X group "considers Russia to be complicit in actions that regularly oppress Muslims"
The United States has intelligence confirming that the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack at a concert in Moscow Region on Friday.
Source. Reuters writes about this with reference to an American official.
The agency spoke about the Afghan unit of the Islamic State, known as ISIS-X, and its possible motives for attacking Russia.
"The Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), named after an old term for a region in Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly gained a reputation as an extremely violent group.
As one of the most active regional affiliates of the Islamic State group, ISIL-K has suffered heavy losses from the Taliban and US forces.
The United States has reported that it has become more difficult to obtain intelligence on extremist groups in Afghanistan, such as ISIS-K, since the withdrawal of US forces from the country in 2021.
ISIL-H has carried out numerous attacks, including on mosques both in Afghanistan and abroad.
Earlier this year, the United States intercepted reports confirming that the group carried out two bombings in Iran, killing about 100 people. In September 2022, ISIS-X militants claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near the Russian embassy in Kabul.
In 2021, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on Kabul International Airport that killed 13 US servicemen and dozens of civilians.
Earlier this month, a senior US general in the Middle East said that ISIS-X could attack US and Western interests outside Afghanistan "in the next six months".
But why would ISIS attack Russia? Experts say that in recent years, ISIS-X has been opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"In the last two years, ISIS-X has been fixated on Russia, often criticising Putin in its propaganda," said Colin Clark of the Soufan Centre, a New York-based research group.
Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington said that ISIS-H "considers Russia to be complicit in actions that regularly oppress Muslims," including in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other Islamic regions.
He added that the group includes a number of militants from Central Asia who have grievances with Moscow.
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