The Other McCain

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Death Toll Mounts in ISIS Moscow Attack

Posted on | March 23, 2024 | Comments Off on Death Toll Mounts in ISIS Moscow Attack

When I got up this morning, the reported death toll was 115 from the terrorist attack on a concert at Crocus City Hall in Moscow. As of this writing, the total is 133, and it may go higher, as many of the wounded are in critical condition and might not make it.

State media reported Saturday that Russian authorities detained 11 people — including four suspected gunmen — for their involvement in a deadly attack on a crowded concert hall near Moscow on Friday that has left at least 133 people dead.
The attack left hundreds more injured, Russian officials said.
The four suspects were stopped in the Bryansk region of western Russia, “not far from the border with Ukraine,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said. They planned to cross the border into Ukraine and “had contacts” there, state news agency Tass said, citing Russia’s FSB. The head of the FSB briefed President Vladimir Putin on the arrests on Saturday, according to Tass.
Videos circulated on Russian social media show pandemonium inside the large concert hall, which is connected to a shopping mall. Videos show people screaming and ducking for cover as gunmen fire volley after volley of automatic gunfire. Other clips show the gunmen firing, sometimes at point-blank range. The attackers also set the venue on fire, causing a partial collapse of the building’s roof.
“The shots were constant,” eyewitness Dave Primov told CBS News. “People panicked and started to run. Some fell down and were trampled on.”
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack. A U.S. official told CBS News that the U.S. has intelligence confirming the Islamic State’s claims of responsibility, and that they have no reason to doubt those claims.
The U.S. Embassy in Russia had previously advised Americans to stay away from concert venues, citing the threat of a terrorist attack. The U.S. official confirmed that the U.S. provided intelligence to Russia about a potential attack under the intelligence community’s Duty to Warn requirement.

Wait, I thought we’d eliminated ISIS? It’s good that our intelligence was able to figure out that such an attack was coming, but I just got off the phone with a friend who was wondering, why Russia? Why now? Is this somehow related to the Russia/Chechnya conflict?

No doubt there will be plenty of conspiracy theories — “false flag”? — but the key takeaway, as far as I’m concerned, is that ISIS is still a danger, capable of mounting major terrorist attacks in distant countries, and we shouldn’t be too complacent about this threat.

UPDATE: Yup, it was definitely ISIS:



 

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Category: Russia, Terrorism

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