Islamic State Proudly Published Picture Of Moscow Four Attackers

On Saturday, in a post detailing how it planned and conducted the assault on a Moscow concert hall that claimed more than one-hundred and thirty lives, Islamic State published a picture of the four attackers it said had “dealt a strong blow to Russia with a bloody attack”

Russian media reported that the attack suspects were from Tajikistan, a Muslim Central Asian country formerly part of the Soviet Union that borders Afghanistan, where Islamic State is active. 

The four men are wearing black baseball caps and face scarfs and are pointing to the sky with one finger, the gesture has become associated with Islamic State and refers to the Muslim belief that there is only one God. 

The men carried out “an intensive monitoring operation” before the attack, according to the statement, in the background is an Islamic State poster with the group’s name in black and white. 

They were armed with machine guns, knives and bombs and sought to inflict as much damage as possible on the “large crowd of Christians”.

Islamic State claimed that the attack killed or injured at least 300 people in total. 

It said the motive was “the raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam”. 

Although the Telegram post did not attribute the attack to a specific branch of IS, the US believes it was conducted by members of the Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K. American security sources, including a senior counterterrorism official, have confirmed as such to the New York Times.

IS-K is an offshoot of the terror group active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. 

Earlier this month, the top US general in the Middle East said IS-K could attack US and Western interests outside of Afghanistan “in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”

The US also warned that it had “information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow – potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts”. It linked that intelligence to IS-K.

Just weeks ago, the US embassy in Moscow issued a warning of a potential terror attack by “extremists,” advising US citizens to avoid large gatherings, including concerts. 

By Saturday, US officials were privately admitting the alert had been partially based on recent intelligence indicating the IS-K branch of the terror group was active inside Russia.