The Islamic State group confirmed on Friday the arrest in Russia of four of its members, perpetrators of the deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow, the day after new accusations from Russian authorities denouncing “links
with Ukrainian nationalists”
.
The March 22 attack, which left 143 dead a week ago at Crocus City Hall, has already been claimed by ISIS, but Russian officials insist on a Ukrainian lead. kyiv, for its part, denies any involvement in this killing.
In its Thursday edition published Friday at dawn, al-Nabaa, the jihadist organization's weekly, confirms that
“four fighters, who are soldiers of the caliphate
,” attacked the hall in the suburbs of Moscow. Three of them used machine guns while the fourth was responsible for starting a fire, according to al-Nabaa, published on the channels of the jihadist group's Telegram application.
The attackers were then the target of a
“pursuit”
led by ground and air forces, which ended with their
“encirclement”
in a forest.
“May God free them from their captivity
,” said al-Nabaa.
The attack, the deadliest in the last twenty years in Russia, left at least 143 dead and 360 injured, including children. Russian authorities previously reported the arrest of 11 people, including the four suspected attackers. Eight were charged and remanded in custody.
Moscow still targets Ukraine
On Thursday, the Russian Investigative Committee, the body responsible for the main criminal investigations, claimed that the perpetrators of the attack had
“links with Ukrainian nationalists”
and had received
“large”
sums of money from Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin himself claimed that the four attackers had been arrested in the Russian region of Bryansk while they tried to flee to Ukraine, where a
“window”
allowing them to cross the border had been prepared on the Ukrainian side. The director of the Russian security services (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, had accused Ukrainian and Western secret services of having
“facilitated”
the attack.