The jihadist group claimed responsibility for the massacre which targeted a concert hall near Moscow on Friday evening, leaving at least 137 dead. This is the first time he has acknowledged an attack of this magnitude.
It is the worst attack in Russia in the last twenty years. An attack in a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, the Russian capital, left at least 137 dead and 182 injured on the evening of Friday March 22. The attack on Crocus City Hall was immediately claimed by the Islamic State (IS) organization. “It was carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and incendiary bombs”assured the group on Telegram.
After initially refusing to comment on this claim, Vladimir Putin affirmed Monday evening that the attack had been committed by “radical Islamists” who he said tried to flee to Ukraine. The Kremlin announced the arrest and detention of four suspects on Sunday, then three others on Monday.
It is more precisely the Afghan branch of the jihadist movement, the Islamic State of Khorasan (EI-K), which claimed responsibility for the attack in a press release on Telegram. Khorasan means in Persian “where the sun comes from” and is the medieval name for Afghanistan, which encompassed a region from present-day Turkmenistan to Tajikistan, emphasizes Le Figaro. Created in 2015 by former Taliban in order to expand the jihadist organization’s fight in Central Asia, EI-K has carried out several bloody attacks in recent years in Afghanistan and Iran, before attacking the Russia.
An ideological conflict with the Taliban
ISIS-K and the Taliban are two opposing forces in Afghanistan. “The Islamic State, supporter of global jihad, is trying to outflank the Taliban in radicalism”explained terrorism specialist Marc Hecker, director at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in 2021, at JDD. “When the Taliban try to improve their international image by communicating about the place of women or ethnic minorities, members of [l’Etat islamique] consider it a deviation from Islam.”
According to Didier Chaudet, associate researcher at the French Institute for Central Asian Studies, the return of the Taliban to power in Kabul in August 2021 initially “forced EI-K to enter into a logic of guerrilla warfare” with Islamist fundamentalists, he assures franceinfo.
“EI-K was able to recruit from veterans of the Afghan army, or from Sunni minorities, whom the Taliban threatened.”
Didier Chaudet, specialist in Central Asiaat franceinfo
Over time, they capitalized on the Taliban’s weaknesses to expand their ranks.
Intense propaganda in Central Asia
To boost their troops, members of EI-K are increasing propaganda actions in Central Asia. From 2014, “CDs and leaflets are distributed in mosques west of Kabul as well as in Jalalabad (east of Afghanistan, capital of Nangarhâr)”but also “in the Afghan refugee camps” in Pakistan, explains a note from the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS). This allowed the organization to gradually expand “its influence in the north and east of the country”estimates the FRS.
Beyond Pakistan, “IS-K’s dream is to destabilize the countries of Central Asiaassures Didier Chaudet. From two years, there has been a lot of propaganda work in the Tajik and Uzbek languages, to be sure to reach everyone.” In a report established in 2023 on the threat posed by the Islamic State group (in PDF), the United Nations (UN) also believes that “the strengthening of ISIS’s media and operational capabilities has run the risk of inspiring more lone actors in the region.”
From 2015, according to the UNmembers of EI-Khorasan carry out bloody targeted attacks on Afghan soil and in the region, “even if these groups do not have the capacity, coordination or local support necessary to control a significant territory”, underlines the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In 2021, the group carried out the double suicide attack near Kabul airport, which left more than a hundred dead, including 13 American soldiers. More recently, in January 2024, EI-K claimed responsibility for the double explosion in southern Iran, near the tomb of General Qassem Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East. That day, 85 people died.
Russia targeted in part for its involvement in Syria
The Afghan branch of IS “has been fixated on Russia for two years, frequently criticizing President Vladimir Putin in his propaganda”declared to New York Times Colin P. Clarke, terrorism analyst at security consulting firm Soufan Group. “IS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood on its hands, referring to Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”
In Chechnya, the separatist rebels gradually became Islamized after the first war (1994-1996), until allegiance to the Islamic State group of the armed Islamist rebellion in the Russian Caucasus, in June 2015. “For many young Chechens, Dagestanis and Ingush in search of their ethnic and spiritual roots in a context of political and social instability, religion appeared as the only valid idea worthy of being defended”explained Emil Souleimanov, professor of political science, to franceinfo in October. That same year, 2015, Vladimir Putin opened a new “front” abroad with the jihadist group by launching military interventions on Syrian soil, to support President Bashar Al-Assad.
Threats thwarted in Europe
In 2023, ISIS-K is gradually expanding beyond the borders of Central Asia. In its annual report, the UN emphasizes that “EI-K could carry out high-impact attacks against Western countries and their interests in the medium term, as demonstrated by the recently foiled attack in Strasbourg”during the end-of-year holidays.
After raising the Vigipirate plan to its maximum level, President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that the branch of the jihadist group “involved” in the Moscow attack “had carried out several attempts in recent months” on the “ground” French.
France is not an isolated case: in July 2023, in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the police arrested seven members of a terrorist group who were in contact with members of the EI-K, according to the Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office. As part of the investigations, two arrests were also made in the Netherlands.