L'ISIS-K (a Pakistani-Afghan terrorist group affiliated to ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack carried out in the theater of Crocus City Hall Of Flylocated in the northwestern outskirts of the capital of Russiathe evening of March 22, 2024. A commando of terrorists armed he infiltrated the theater, packed with people for a rock concert, and shot into the crowd, killing 115 people and causing over 100 injuries (data updated at 11.30am on 23 March 2024). The attackers also caused the roof collapse of the building with at least two detonations.
Some of the terrorists would already have been identified and it clicked for them a arrest warrant; Furthermore other suspects they have already been stopped and interrogated by Russian law enforcement. At first there was talk of a possible Ukrainian attackin the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, but Kiev and the United States had immediately denied This possibility. Despite this, in the last few hours they still chase each other Russian voices, fueled by Moscow's secret services (which however are not confirmed) that there may be links between the attackers and Ukraine. The latter, however, defined them as unfounded.
Not only that, the same one embassy American in Moscow, on 7 March 2024 he publicly warned that theintelligence USA considered possible gods extremist attacks in Russia (particularly in Moscow) in the following days, but President Putin had declassified the question a Western propaganda.
In extreme summary this is the chronicle of what happened. At present, rescue operations and investigations are still ongoing, so there may be new and continuous developments. In the meantime, however, let's try to answer a fundamental question, with all the necessary precautions, namely: why did ISIS-K carry out an attack on Moscow? At the moment we can only do some hypothesis. Let's start by understanding what ISIS-K is.
What is ISIS-K and what is its goal?
ISIS-K is a specific Sunni Islamic extremist armed group founded between the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 in the'border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The terrorist group has since affiliated itself with ISIS and has begun a series of operations, including several attacks.
Two of the best known in the West are a suicide attack carried out atKabul airport on August 26th 2021during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in 183 casualties (including 13 Americans), and two suicide attacks in Iranon January 3 2024during the celebration of the anniversary of the assassination of the Iranian general Soleimani (killed by the US, but also co-responsible for the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq).
There “K” in the name ISIS-K indicates a geographical region, the Khorasan (or Chorasan), a historical area of Asia containing roughly parts of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. ISIS-K aims precisely to gain control of Khorasan and create a caliphate (Wilayat Khorasani.e. “Khorasan province”) which has as its foundation the sharia, Islamic law, to be subsequently expanded beyond the borders of the region. In this process the armed group is also fighting against the Afghan Taliban regime itself and against the official Pakistani armed forces.
Why did ISIS-K attack Moscow?
Considering what ISIS-K is and its goal, what could be the reason which pushed the terrorists to carry out thetheater attack of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia? With the information in our possession we can formulate three hypotheseswhich can also be linked to each other.
First of all it must be said that in recent months ISIS-K had done some anti-Russian statementsdefining Putin a enemy and a murderer of Muslims, due to Moscow's military interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria. Precisely in the war in Syria, in particular, the Russia was one of main architects of the defeat of ISIS and its notable downsizing. It should also be added that at the beginning of March the armed forces ofIngushetia (one of the federated states of Russia) they eliminated six members of ISIS. The attack on the Moscow theater could therefore be classified as one vendetta compared to this long series of interventions.
Secondly, a line of thought in radical Islam deems it appropriate foment any ongoing conflicts between non-Muslim states or forces in conflict with each other, even more so if they are enemies of Islam. This is because it would allow them to be further weakened and therefore could facilitateexpansion and spread of Islam inside them. The attack on the Moscow theater could therefore also have been a way to further destabilize the framework of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Finally, such a blatant and dramatic act could be useful to ISIS-K to strengthen ourselves as a groupboth internally, perhaps attracting new followers, and at a local and international level, being taken more seriously as a solid, effective entity capable of actions with a strong impact.
