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Moscow attack: Gunmen kill at least 60 at Crocus City Hall in Moscow - ISIS accepts responsibility [unverified]

ISIS had nothing to do with it. We all know Ukraine is fighting Russia so it was most likely them. The day Ukraine joins NATO is the day Putin attacks the west. I see Russia attacking London maybe even nuking it this year. Putin is not stupid, he knows exactly what is happening.
 

Moscow attack: Central Asian migrants on high alert in Russia​


An increase in beatings, vandalism and episodes of racism against Central Asian migrants has been reported in Russia since the deadly attacks at Moscow's Crocus City Hall last Friday.

Four Tajik nationals have been accused of killing 139 people in the attack, claimed by jihadist group Islamic State. Several other suspects have been arrested, all of Central Asian origin.

Forecasting a rise in tensions in the aftermath of the Moscow murders, the embassy of Tajikistan in Russia warned its citizens at the weekend not to leave their homes unless necessary.

Central Asian migrants make up a sizeable proportion of Russia's migrant labour population, particularly in the retail, transportation and construction sectors.

Many already experience high levels of discrimination. They are "often confronted with broad social xenophobia that sees them as something of an underclass," Prof Edward Lemon of Texas A&M University told the BBC.

Tajik-born singer Manizha Sanghin, who represented Russia at Eurovision in 2021, condemned the "flagrant atrocity" of the Moscow attack, but warned of the "consequences that will descend upon Tajiks and all residents of Central Asia". She is now a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency.

There are about 10.5 million migrants from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan working in Russia, according to the Russian Interior Ministry. Many more are potentially unregistered.

The high numbers are due to a visa-free regime with Russia which makes it one of the only options for Central Asian migrants looking for the economic opportunities they don't have at home, Prof Lemon explained.

Despite the Tajik embassy's warning, news that the Crocus City Hall attackers were Tajik nationals quickly travelled across Russia.

Over the weekend, a migrant-owned business was burnt down in the city of Blagoveshchensk in Russia's Far East, while several migrants were beaten up in Kaluga, a city south west of Moscow.

Migrants from Kyrgyzstan were held at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport for two days and locked in a room without food or water only to be later returned home, while taxi drivers in Moscow reported being asked by clients to confirm that they were not Tajiks.

Within hours of the Crocus City Hall attack, messages on Telegram messaging group chats in the early hours of Saturday betrayed a growing nervousness among the migrant community in Russia.

"Many people already don't like non-Russians, and now we have this situation," one person wrote on a group entitled "Tajiks in Moscow".

Worried about the risk of a backlash on the Tajik community, another said: "Please, God, let [the attackers] be Ukrainian instead."

Valentina Chupik, a lawyer who works with migrants without charge, told Russian media outlet Mediazona she had received 2,500 reports of "acts of aggression" against migrants in the two days following the Moscow attack.

Police broke into migrants' dormitories and hostels across the country and detained several people. More than 30 cases of torture following the arrests were also reported, Ms Chupik said.

Four days on, the lawyer told the BBC that numbers were continuing to rise and several Tajiks had told her they were considering leaving Russia.

"A group of Tajik citizens asked me to provide them with safe accommodation because they are scared to live in their hostel," Ms Chupik said.

Ms Chupik says discrimination in Russia typically affects migrants "who do not have Slavic facial features", and "most of the humiliation and violence comes from Russian law enforcement rather than from ordinary people".

While Friday's attack in Moscow has exacerbated the situation, migrant communities have long been the targets of police crackdowns.

Every year, Russian authorities carry out large anti-migrant campaigns, launching dozens of raids on Central Asian businesses, mosques and places of gathering. Last year's campaign reportedly resulted in more than 15,000 migrants being deported.

In January, the Kyrgyz and Uzbek governments demanded that Russia investigate a social media video showing migrant workers being insulted and humiliated during a raid in Yekaterinburg.

And yet many Central Asian migrants often have little choice but to continue working in Russia. Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia and half its gross domestic product (GDP) comes from remittances sent by relatives abroad.

That is why they still head for Russia "in spite of the many problems," Prof Lemon said.

And Russia's complex migration laws mean that even labourers who enter legally often end up staying without the required paperwork.

Life as an undocumented migrant means becoming more susceptible to abuse from employers, substandard living conditions and no access to healthcare.

It also means a greater risk of detention, which in turn leads to having to pay hefty bribes to authorities.

Soon after the Moscow attack, several Russian MPs called for the tightening of migrant laws. One suggested migrants should be expelled from Russia "for the slightest offence".

But there is no realistic chance of that happening as Russia benefits from Central Asian migrants too. The war in Ukraine has left Russia facing labour shortages and it would simply be unable to afford losing millions of workers.

But years of tensions and xenophobia mean migrant communities in Russia continue to feel nervous.

"Be careful, good people," one member of a Tajik Telegram group said. "After this, it will definitely be a difficult time for us brothers and sisters."

www.bbc.com

Moscow attack: Central Asian migrants on high alert in Russia

Migrants in Russia reported an uptick in xenophobia after Moscow said Tajiks were behind last week's attacks.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 

Russian foreign ministry says hard to believe ISIS could launch Moscow attack​


Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it’s “extremely hard to believe” that ISIS would have had the capacity to launch the attack on a Moscow concert hall last Friday that killed at least 140 people.

At a briefing with reporters, Zakharova instead doubled down on Moscow’s assertions, for which it has not yet provided evidence, that Ukraine was behind the attack on the Crocus City Hall, the deadliest Russia has suffered in 20 years.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre and US officials say they have intelligence showing it was carried out by the network’s Afghan branch, ISIS-Khorasan. Ukraine has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack.

But Zakharova said the West had rushed to pin responsibility on ISIS, as a way of deflecting blame from Ukraine and the Western governments that support it.

“In order to ward off suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS, pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions,” she said.

President Vladimir Putin has said the attack was carried out by Islamist militants but has suggested it was to Ukraine’s benefit and that Kyiv may have played a role.

He has said that someone on the Ukrainian side had prepared a “window” for the gunmen to escape across the border before they were captured in western Russia on Friday night.

On Tuesday, however, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the gunmen had initially sought to cross into his country before turning away and heading toward Ukraine once they realized that crossings into Belarus had been sealed.

The director of Russia’s FSB security agency said on Tuesday that he believed Ukraine, along with the United States and Britain, were involved in the Moscow attack.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron responded on X, saying: “Russia’s claims about the West and Ukraine on the Crocus City Hall attack are utter nonsense.”

 
The matter is something else altogether, waiting to hear what the Russian authorities say after a complete investigation.
 
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No plan for Russia’s Putin to visit attack victims, Kremlin says​


The Kremlin gave no indication on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin plans to visit family members of those killed in last Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall, which killed 143 people.

The Russian leader was seen lighting a candle for the victims at a Moscow church last week but has not visited the scene of the massacre or publicly met with its victims.

“If any contacts are necessary, we will inform you accordingly,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked if Putin planned to meet family members of the dead.

He also said Putin did not plan to visit Crocus City concert hall, the scene of the massacre where rescuers had for the past week been searching the rubble for bodies.

“In these days it would be completely inappropriate to carry out any fact-finding trips, because this would simply interfere with the work,” Peskov said.

ISIS extremists have said several times since Friday that they were responsible for the attack, but Putin and Russian officials have suggested Ukraine and Western intelligence were somehow involved.

The Kremlin has expressed confidence in the country’s powerful security agencies, despite swirling questions over how they failed to thwart the massacre.


 

Afghan Interior Ministry Denies ISIS-K Leader's Presence​

The Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Emirate says that Sanaullah Ghafari, the leader of ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan, is not present and the territory of this country is not being used against any country.

The attacks by Daesh in the past two weeks in Afghanistan and some other countries have raised concerns in the region and the world.

Following Daesh attacks in Kandahar and Moscow, Russia, Reuters reported, quoting two sources among Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, that it was initially reported that Ghafari was killed in Afghanistan in June 2023, but he fled to Pakistan while injured and is believed to be residing in parts of Balochistan.

"Two sources among the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban told Reuters that it was initially reported that Ghafari was killed in Afghanistan in June of the last year, but he fled across the border to Pakistan while injured and is believed to be living in the border province of Balochistan." Reads part of the Reuters report.

“The regional and beyond regional intelligence are behind attacks in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Russian,” said Muhammad Matin Muhammad Khail, a political anlsyt.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Interior denies the presence of the ISIS-Khorasan leader in Afghanistan and says that the soil of Afghanistan will not be used against any country.

“We reject this claim, and it is not true that an individual named Sanaullah living in Afghanistan,” said Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior.

Previously, some United States officials such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Lindsey Graham had spoken about Daesh activities in Afghanistan and emphasized its suppression in the country, a matter that the Islamic Emirate called an exaggeration of the group by America.

tolonews.com

Afghan Interior Ministry Denies ISIS-K Leader's Presence | TOLOnews

The attacks by Daesh in the past two weeks in Afghanistan and some other countries have raised concerns in the region and the world.
tolonews.com tolonews.com
 
Russia says evidence links concert hall attackers to ‘Ukrainian nationalists’

Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Thursday it had uncovered evidence that the gunmen who killed more than 140 people in an attack on a concert hall last week were linked to “Ukrainian nationalists.”

In a statement, it said the attackers had received significant amounts of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine.

Ukraine has emphatically denied it had anything to do with the attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years.

 
Putin says NATO won’t be attacked but F-16s will; Kyiv claims Russia knew terror attack was coming

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin speeches during an annual expanded Prosecutor General's Office meeting, March 26,2024, in Moscow, Russia. Dozens people were killed by gunmen during a concert of a local rock band at the Crocus City Hall last week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speeches during an annual expanded Prosecutor General’s Office meeting, March 26, 2024, in Moscow, Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the idea that Russia could attack NATO, but he warned that any F-16 fighters given to Ukraine by its Western allies would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.

Speaking to air force pilots Wednesday, Putin said U.S. spending on defense exceeded Russia’s and said, “are we, having this ratio, going to fight with NATO, or what? Well, this is just nonsense!” news agency Tass reported.

Asked about the delivery of F-16 jet fighters, which a number of European countries have pledged to deliver to Ukraine, Putin said such combat aircraft would not change the war.

In other news, Ukraine’s intelligence chief claimed on Wednesday that Russia was aware that a terrorist attack was being planned since at least Feb.15.Two women had been injured in the attack.

CNBC could not independently verify the reports.

Source: CNBC
 
Russian investigators said on Thursday they had found proof that gunmen who killed more than 140 people at a concert last week were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists", an assertion immediately dismissed by the United States as baseless propaganda.

Russia has said from the outset that it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, even though Kyiv has denied it and the militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In a statement, Russia's Investigative Committee said for the first time that it had uncovered proof of a Ukrainian connection. While it described the nature of the alleged evidence, it did not publish it.

"As a result of working with detained terrorists, studying the technical devices seized from them, and analysing information about financial transactions, evidence was obtained of their connection with Ukrainian nationalists," it said.

It said there was "confirmed data" that the attackers had received significant amounts of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine. Another suspect involved in "the terrorists' financing scheme" had been detained, the committee said.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby described the Russian allegations as "nonsense and propaganda" and said Islamic State was solely responsible for the attack.

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www.reuters.com
 
Cricket Warrior said:
Russian investigators said on Thursday they had found proof that gunmen who killed more than 140 people at a concert last week were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists", an assertion immediately dismissed by the United States as baseless propaganda.

Russia has said from the outset that it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, even though Kyiv has denied it and the militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In a statement, Russia's Investigative Committee said for the first time that it had uncovered proof of a Ukrainian connection. While it described the nature of the alleged evidence, it did not publish it.

"As a result of working with detained terrorists, studying the technical devices seized from them, and analysing information about financial transactions, evidence was obtained of their connection with Ukrainian nationalists," it said.

It said there was "confirmed data" that the attackers had received significant amounts of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine. Another suspect involved in "the terrorists' financing scheme" had been detained, the committee said.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby described the Russian allegations as "nonsense and propaganda" and said Islamic State was solely responsible for the attack.

Loading…

www.reuters.com
Click to expand...
If Russia can truly prove its linkage in these attacks on Ukraine, Ukraine will surely lose a lot of its international support.
 

Moscow concert massacre and the Tajik connection​


In Loyob, they do not believe anyone from their village was capable of taking part in the jihadist massacre at Moscow's Crocus City Hall.

But Faridun Shamsiddin is now one of four Tajik citizens held in a Moscow jail suspected of murdering at least 143 people last week. The 25-year-old is also accused of recruiting two other men to help the gunmen.

He left Loyob, about 40km north-west of the capital Dushanbe, several months ago in search of work in Russia.

Within hours of the Moscow attack, Tajik security forces were seen in Loyob and reportedly took the suspect's father away for interrogation. Russian investigators are also said to have flown to Tajikistan to speak to relatives.

Jihadist group Islamic State said it was behind the Moscow attack and released footage verified by the BBC.

All four suspected attackers showed signs of torture when they appeared in court, raising serious questions about the reliability of their testimony.

However, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has long drawn attention to extremism in areas of Tajikistan, especially among young people. He has condemned the Crocus City Hall attack as a shameful and terrible event.

At least nine people have been arrested this week by Tajik authorities, for alleged links to the Moscow attack suspects. All of them are described as residents of Vakhdat, a town east of Dushanbe that is home to another of the alleged attackers, Saidakram Rajabalizoda.

The other two have been named as Muhammadsobir Fayzov and Dalerjon Mirzoyev.

Young people in Loyob mainly work in agriculture, construction or in the local market. Like Shamsiddin, many travel to Russia to escape low wages and high levels of unemployment at home.

Tajik authorities say more than 652,000 people migrated to Russia last year, although Russia says the number could be in the millions.

One villager in Loyob, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that Faridun Shamsiddin had first emigrated to Russia six months ago. Three months later, he travelled to Turkey, before returning 11 days later in early March.

While he was there, he is thought to have met fellow suspect Saidakram Rajabalizoda.

Turkey is a convenient country for a migrant worker to renew a Russian permit, but it is also seen as somewhere that IS's Afghan-based affiliate Islamic State Khorasan can recruit militants.

In a three-minute video reportedly leaked by Russian security services, Faridun Shamsiddin is seen shivering while a soldier pushes his head against his boots, before he is heard saying he carried out the Moscow massacre in exchange for 500,000 roubles (£4,200).

"The security officers beat him and tortured him so much, he would have been ready to take responsibility for Lenin's death," one villager told me after seeing footage of Shamsiddin being interrogated online.

The Tajik president has appealed to people to protect children and young people from the influence of radical groups and not let them "tarnish the good name of the Tajik nation".

But the government in Dushanbe says most of the 2,000 citizens who joined Islamic State between 2014 and 2016 during the group's rise to prominence were mainly recruited in Russia.

They tend to be migrant workers, lured via social media or messaging apps such as Telegram. Some of those accused of involvement in recent IS attacks have said they were approached on social media with promises of money.

Qasimshah Iskandarov, head of the Dushanbe-based Centre for Afghanistan Studies, believes Central Asian migrant workers are susceptible to recruitment by radical groups.

Turkey in particular has become a logistical hub for IS, he says, because both Tajiks and Russians can travel there without a visa.

Migrant workers who go to Russia have three months to find a residence and a work permit, which costs around $430 (£340). To avoid paying, some head to Turkey ahead of the deadline and then go back to Russia.

Some immigrants leave Russia for Turkey before completing the three-month deadline, and re-enter Russia to avoid paying.

But many Tajiks are also radicalised in Afghanistan, says Qasimshah Iskandarov. It is just a few hours' drive south from Dushanbe and he says it has become IS's primary base since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

Since last summer, Tajik militants have been linked to a spate of jihadist attacks.

  • 14 Aug 2023: Armed attack in Shiraz in Iran kills one
  • 3 Jan 2024: Suicide attack in southern Iran kills at least 89
  • 28 Jan 2024: Attack on Catholic church in Turkey kills one person.
The Russian-led military bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Tajikistan, said last month it had observed an increase in the number of IS fighters and other Islamist militants on its southern borders.

The CSTO says the network of training camps for groups such as IS and al-Qaeda is expanding and the majority of their foreign fighters are concentrated in the northern regions of Afghanistan, bordering Tajikistan.

www.bbc.com

Moscow concert massacre and the Tajik connection

The Moscow attack suspects are all from Tajikistan, where many young people have been radicalised.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
ISIS says four members arrested over attack on concert hall near Russia’s Moscow

ISIS said Friday four of its members had been arrested after they attacked a concert hall near Moscow killing 143 people, a day after Russia blamed Ukraine.

On March 22, gunmen opened fire at the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow, setting the venue alight and wounding 80 people.

Moscow has detained 12 people and charged eight with “terror-related offenses” over their alleged roles in the attack. They include four suspects from Tajikistan who are accused of carrying it out, Russian state media said.

ISIS swiftly claimed the attack, although Moscow has said repeatedly that the attackers had links to “Ukrainian nationalists” - a claim Kyiv rejects.

In the latest issue of its weekly Al-Nabaa magazine published Friday on Telegram channels, the group said its fighters had been hunted down by ground and air forces.

The operation ended when the men were surrounded in “a forest,” ISIS said, adding that they were now in “captivity.”

A Moscow court has remanded the four main suspects in custody until May 22 - a date likely to be extended until their trial.

Russia has been a repeated target of attack by ISIS, in retaliation for its suppression of unrest in Muslim-majority regions and its support for President Bashar al-Assad’s government in the civil war in Syria.

 
Yes, that is some logic that Russia has been in radar of ISIS, in retaliation for its suppression of unrest in Muslim-majority regions and its support for President Bashar al-Assad’s government in the civil war in Syria.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
If Russia can truly prove its linkage in these attacks on Ukraine, Ukraine will surely lose a lot of its international support.
Click to expand...

Ukraine only has support from Nato nations .

Russia isn’t a nation which cares for proving anything, they will go ahead & punish those they believe are complicit .

The captured terrorists have confirmed their Handlers are in Ukraine .
 
Central Asian migrants face xenophobic backlash in Russia after Moscow terror attack

The four men accused of a deadly terror attack on Moscow’s Crocus City concert hall last week were quickly identified by Russian authorities as being from Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.

In the hours after the attack, videos began surfacing on Russian social media channels of the police detaining and brutally abusing the alleged attackers, with one appearing to show a suspect having part of his ear cut off and subsequently forced into his mouth. The men had been in Russia as migrant workers on either temporary or expired visas, authorities said.

Russians are understandably shocked and saddened by the attack. But in the days since, that emotion – combined with the disturbing videos – appears to have unleashed a wave of xenophobia from some towards Central Asian migrant workers in general.

On the social media platform X, CNN saw posts that showed people looking for taxis, asking for their rides to be cancelled if the driver was Tajik. One purported photo of a conversation said, “If you are Tajik, please cancel my ride.”

A torrent of abuse has also reportedly been directed towards a barbershop in the city of Ivanovo, where one of the alleged attackers worked. The owner of the shop told Russian journalists that her phone had been ringing “non stop” with death threats, and is quoted by a Russian daily newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolets, as saying, “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid to go outside.”

As a consequence, Russian President Vladimir Putin now finds himself in an increasingly delicate position with regard to migrant workers, who occupy vital roles in the Russian workforce — particularly while the country is at war.


 

Iran warned Russia of security threats before Moscow attack: Sources​


Iran tipped off Russia about the possibility of a major “terrorist operation” on its soil ahead of the concert hall massacre near Moscow last month, three sources familiar with the matter said.

In the deadliest attack inside Russia in 20 years, gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers on March 22 at the Crocus City Hall, killing at least 144 people in violence claimed by ISIS militant group.

“Days before the attack in Russia, Tehran shared information with Moscow about a possible big terrorist attack inside Russia that was acquired during interrogations of those arrested in connection with deadly bombings in Iran,” said one source.

Iran’s intelligence ministry said in January it had arrested 35 people linked to twin bombings on Jan. 3 in the southeastern city of Kerman that killed nearly 100 people. On Jan. 19, the ministry said it had arrested a commander of Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based branch ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K).

ISIS claimed responsibility for the Iran blasts, the bloodiest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. US intelligence sources said ISIS-K had carried out both the Jan. 3 attacks in Iran and the March 22 shootings in Moscow.

ISIS once occupied large swathes of Iraq and Syria, imposing a reign of terror and inspiring lone wolf attacks in Western countries, but was declared territorially defeated in 2017.

However, ISIS-K, one of its most fearsome branches, has raised the group’s profile again with large-scale bloodshed.

ISIS-K, named after an old term for a region that encompassed parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.

‘Significant operation’

A second source, who also requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the information Tehran provided to Moscow about an impending attack had lacked specific details regarding timing and the exact target.

“They [the members of ISIS-K] were instructed to prepare for a significant operation in Russia... One of the terrorists [arrested in Iran] said some members of the group had already traveled to Russia,” the second source said.

A third source, a senior security official, said: “As Iran has been a victim of terror attacks for years, Iranian authorities fulfilled their obligation to alert Moscow based on information acquired from those arrested terrorists.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday he had no information about an Iranian warning to Moscow ahead of the concert hall massacre.

Iran’s foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment on this story. The White House had no comment on the matter.

A source familiar with the US intelligence on an impending attack in Russia said it was based on interceptions of “chatter” among ISIS-K militants.

Challenging the US assertions, Russia has said it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, without providing evidence. Kyiv has strongly denied the assertion.

It is harder, however, for Russia to dismiss intelligence from diplomatically ally Iran on the attack, which raised questions over the effectiveness of Russian security services. Moscow and Tehran, both under Western sanctions, have deepened military and other cooperation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Tajik nationals

Both the attacks in Kerman and near Moscow involved Tajik nationals. ISIS-K has aggressively recruited from the impoverished former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, security experts say.

Sources said Iran had discussed its security concerns with Tajikistan. A diplomatic source in Tajikistan confirmed that Tehran had recently discussed with Dushanbe the issue of increased involvement of ethnic Tajiks in militant activities.

In 2022 ISIS claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Shia shrine in Iran that killed 13 people. Tehran identified the attacker as a Tajik national.

Earlier attacks claimed by ISIS include twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini.

 
When warnings were coming from so many sources, I guess the Russian security forces should have taken the warnings seriously.
 

Russia says it arrested four more Moscow attack plotters​


Russia’s FSB security service has said that four people arrested Sunday in a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.

More than 140 people were killed when gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on March 22 before setting the building on fire in the most fatal attack in Russia for two decades.

The FSB said in a statement on Monday that it had arrested a group of four a day earlier in the southern Dagestan region who “were directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act carried out on 22 March in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow.”

On Sunday, Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said it had apprehended three people who were “planning to commit a series of terrorist crimes.”

The FSB said Monday that four foreign citizens had been arrested in the operation in the regional capital Makhachkala and the nearby town of Kaspiysk.

The Interfax news agency cited an FSB video showing one of the detained men saying: “I took weapons to them, these guys who attacked Crocus City Hall. I took them weapons from Makhachkala.”

Russian authorities had previously announced the arrests of 12 people they say are connected to the attack -- including the four suspected gunmen, who have been identified as Tajik citizens.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre, the most deadly it says it has ever carried out on European soil, though President Vladimir Putin has talked up a Ukrainian and Western connection.

Kyiv and the West have repeatedly denied any involvement and accused Moscow of “exploiting” the tragedy.

Dagestan is a Muslim-majority region in Russia’s southern Caucasus region.

The FSB has come under scrutiny over its failure to thwart the attack despite private and public warnings by the US intelligence community that “extremists” were planning an “imminent” attack on “large gatherings” in Moscow.

The agency regularly announces it has foiled alleged “terrorist cells,” but in recent months has mainly announced the arrests of what it calls pro-Ukrainian saboteurs planning attacks on Russian military sites and infrastructure.

 

Moscow terrorist attack recruiter apprehended – FSB​


Three individuals suspected of having links with the terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall last month have been taken into custody, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported.

The arrests were made in Moscow, Ekaterinburg, and Omsk, according to a statement from the agency. Two of the suspects are foreigners while the third is a Russian citizen. All three originate from Central Asia, the FSB added.

www.rt.com

Moscow terrorist attack recruiter apprehended – FSB

Three more people suspected of involvement in the Crocus City Hall massacre have been arrested, the Federal Security Service has reported
www.rt.com www.rt.com
 
More clues will gradually emerge, and I am sure somewhere, there is involvement from Ukraine or the USA.
 
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