On the evening of March 22, an armed terrorist group opened fire and threw gasoline bombs to burn down the Crocus Concert Hall on the outskirts of Moscow, where thousands of people were gathered for a performance. The death toll has risen to 137 and hundreds of others were wounded, making it the deadliest terror attack on Moscow in the past 20 years.

Solidarity with Russians

A few hours after the terrorist attack, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) rebel group and the Khorasan group (ISIS-K), an IS branch in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Within 12 hours after the attack, Russian security forces had conducted a large-scale search and arrested 11 suspects, including 4 who are believed to have fired on the crowd.

President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish all those involved in the attack against Russian civilians.

International security experts had warned previously of a potential terrorist attack on Russia, especially by the IS. The reason is that the Russian government has supported Syria’s military campaigns against IS forces in Northern Syria since 2015. ISIS-K has expanded its influence as its network in Afghanistan has narrowed. Before the attack in Russia, ISIS-K was the perpetrator of a terrorist attack that killed nearly 100 people in Iran earlier this year.

US intelligence officials passed a secret warning to Russia earlier this month of a plot to target large crowds. Despite the warnings, the bloody terrorist attack on the outskirts of Moscow shocked the world with its tragic consequences. Many countries have expressed sympathy for the loss of Russian lives and affirmed that the fight against terrorism is a common task of humanity.

Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan said: “Terrorism is unacceptable regardless of where it comes from or who the perpetrator is. As a country that knows the bloody face of terrorism very well, we share the grief of the Russian people as a nation and a state. We will continue our fight against terrorism, which is the common enemy of humanity.”

Russian President Putin is calling on countries to sincerely cooperate to eliminate all forms of international terrorism. “We know what the threat of terrorism is. Here we count on cooperation with all states that sincerely share our pain and are ready to really join forces in the fight against a common enemy - international terrorism – in all its manifestations. Terrorists, murderers, face one unenviable fate – retribution and oblivion. They have no future," Putin said.

Risk of widespread terrorism

The brutal terrorist attack on the outskirts of Moscow shows that terrorism continues to be one of the biggest security threats to many countries around the world, despite the fact that IS has been seriously damaged by international raids since 2015.

Colin P. Clarke, an anti-terrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a US security consulting company, said that, despite being expelled from Syria and Iraq and restricted by Taliban forces in Afghanistan, the ISIS-K group still has the ability to attack targets around the world.

Since Western countries have tightened security and launched preemptive attacks, ISIS-K has had little opportunity to attack Western countries and has shifted its targets to other countries, such as Iran, Russia, and Pakistan. However, terrorist threats to Western countries remain real.

General Michael Kurilla, Commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), told a hearing of the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee on March 21: “IS surges their attacks in Iraq and Syria earlier this year and the risk of attack emanating from Afghanistan is increasing. I assess ISIS-Khorasan retains the capability and the will to attack US and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning."     

France, the host of this year's Olympics, has raised its security alert to the highest level of the Vigipirate system. President Emmanuel Macron said French security agencies have foiled many IS terrorist attack plots in the past few months, but the incident in Russia puts heavy pressure on France, especially since this year’s Olympic opening ceremony will be held outside the stadium for the first time in history.