On Wednesday, Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the national secuity of Russia accused the United States government who carries the resposibility for the recent terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow which took a toll of 145 lives.
Despite the attack was claimed and carried out by the Islamic State, a terror group in Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed without any substantial evidence that the attack was also planned and carried out by Ukraine, who has been at war with Russia since 2022.
The Moscow Concert Attack
The attack took place at the Crocus City Hall, a musical venu near Krasnogorsk in Russia where four gunmen enterted the city hall and opened fire on the crowd before the performance of local rock concert group known as Picnic.
The four masked intruders(Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov) carried AK-47 rifles, knives, and pistols with them. They first opened fire on some teenagers and children who were killed while they were practicing in their ballroom. Then slowly they started to open fire in the lobby area of the City Hall before they entered into the hall.
The Russian authorities stated that the terrorists set fire to the hall with the help of flammable liquid despite getting help from the helicopters which dropped water continuously for almost ten hours to extinguish the fire.
While a 15-year old part time cloakroom assistant Islam Khalilov is stated to have helped more than 100 audience by helping them to exit throught the Concert Hall’s office space.
The concert hall attack lasted for about 20 minutes in which 137 people were killed and 60 people were seriouly injured . After the attack, one of the terrorist spoke in Arabic and stated that ‘The infidels are defeated by the grace of Allah..Allah is great.. We went out for the sake of Allah and are supporting his religion.’
The intruders also may have used incendiary devices while a witness stated that they also used petrol bombs or Molotov cocktails which were filled up with flammable liquid to start the fire in the auditorium.
After the attack, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack and stated that they were doing it as a part of their ongoing holy war against other countries in the name of Islam. A US intelligence official stated that the American intelligence agencies had the information that confirmed that ISIS was behind the attack and after the claim they had no doubt.
The Russian authorities soon arrested the four terrorists and stated that the intruders are from Tajikstan and they also believe that the Russian division of the ISIS i.e. the Afghanistan division also known as ISIS-Khosan or ISIS-K was behind the gruesome and deadliest attack in Russia in 20 years.
What did the US warn Russia prior the attack?
Before the Moscow attack, the United States intelligence agency notified the Russian authorities about a potential terror attack that could happen in the nation’s capital. The US Embassy in Russia recommended and stated that the Americans staying in Russia needed to stay away from any public events, concert halls, etc.
Adrienne Watson, the representative for the National Security Council stated that ‘We also issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on March 7. ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.’
Glancing at the Nikolai Patrushev’s complete statement@SCO
The chief of the Russian National Security Nikolai Patrushev spoke at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO) a nine-country alliance that focused matters on security and economy and was held in Kazakhstan’s national capital Astana. The Russian chief stated that ‘They are trying to impose on us that the terrorist act was committed not by the Kyiv regime, but by supporters of radical Islamic ideology, perhaps members of the Afghan branch of IS.’
He further continued and ended his statement that ‘However, it is much more important to quickly establish who is the customer and sponsor of this monstrous crime. Its traces lead to the Ukrainian special services. But everyone knows that the Kyiv regime is not independent and is completely controlled by the United States.‘
