Analysis | Moscow attack likely involved more than 1 Isis branch, Russia in its ‘crosshairs’ for a long time
- Isis-C is the ‘main perpetrator’ and received ‘some help’ from Isis-K with the latter present in Moscow before the attack, analysts say
- The tactics employed by the Moscow attackers and a related American warning boost the impression that Isis was involved
The claim of responsibility by Isis should be taken at face value because it was issued through the group’s usually reliable official media wing, they said.
“There is no question as to the authenticity of the statement, only as to how direct the connection is between Isis leaders and the actual assailants,” said Evan Kohlmann, a New York-based terrorism analyst and CEO of Cloudburst, a cyber intelligence consultancy.
Isis has previously claimed responsibility “for a handful of terrorist attacks by individuals who were clearly inspired by it specifically, but for whom there is not always clear evidence of a command-and-control relationship”, Kohlmann said.
Despite being defeated in Iraq and Syria by a US-led global coalition in 2019 and losing all the territory that comprised the so-called caliphate it established there in 2013, Isis remains a serious threat to global security.