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EXPLAINER: What is ISIS-K, the group claiming attack on a Moscow concert hall?

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Reuters

<p style="margin-bottom:12px;line-height:normal">The US <span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2"> has intelligence confirming Islamic State&#x27;s claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting attack at a concert near Moscow on Friday (March 22) by a rising affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">Better known as ISIS-K, the group is named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. It emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">&quot;There is a concern this group is becoming more dangerous and especially towards attacking targets that are not just linked to Afghanistan, &quot; said Dan Byman, a senior fellow with the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. &quot;ISIS-K has become one of the strongest, if not the strongest part of the Islamic State today.&quot;</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">Experts say ISIS-K has become fixated on Russia in recent years, seeing it as complicit in activities that it says oppresses Muslims.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">ISIS-K saw its membership decline after the Taliban and U.S. forces inflicted heavy losses. But the United States sees the group as an ongoing threat.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">General Michael Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, told Congress this week that ISIS-K was quickly developing the ability to attack US and Western interests outside Afghanistan &quot;in as little as six months and with little to no warning.&quot;</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2">ISIS-K has a history of attacks inside and outside Afghanistan. Earlier this year, the US intercepted communications confirming the group carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people. The group was also responsible for an attack on Kabul&#x27;s international airport in 2021 that killed 13 US troops and scores of civilians during the chaotic US evacuation from the country.</p><div style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/3/23/putin-vows-retribution-on-concert-hall-attack-2318">Putin vows retribution on concert hall attack</a></div><div style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/23/no-filipinos-affected-in-russia-gun-attack-dfa-1423">No Filipinos affected in Russia gun attack: DFA</a></div><div style="--tw-border-spacing-x:0;--tw-border-spacing-y:0;--tw-translate-x:0;--tw-translate-y:0;--tw-rotate:0;--tw-skew-x:0;--tw-skew-y:0;--tw-scale-x:1;--tw-scale-y:1;--tw-scroll-snap-strictness:proximity;--tw-ring-offset-width:0px;--tw-ring-offset-color:#fff;--tw-ring-color:rgba(59,130,246,0.5);--tw-ring-offset-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-ring-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow:0 0 #0000;--tw-shadow-colored:0 0 #0000;box-sizing:inherit;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;border:0px;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);orphans:2;widows:2"><strong>(Production - Tom Rowe)</strong></div>

<p>The US has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting attack at a concert near Moscow on Friday by a rising affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan.</p>

The US has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting attack at a concert near Moscow on Friday by a rising affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan.