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Turkish intelligence reportedly foiled terrorist plot to attack Moscow mall after Crocus City massacre
bne IntelliNews
Islamist jihadist terrorists planned to attack a bustling shopping mall in central Moscow following the Crocus City Hall concert venue massacre on the outskirts of the Russian capital in late March, but Turkey’s intelligence service foiled the plot, according to a June 18 report published by Turkish daily Hurriyet.
Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate, Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP, or ISIS-K), claimed the Crocus City
Hall attack, which authorities say took the lives of 145 people and allege was committed by four Tajik gunmen, who were migrant workers in Russia. Two months prior to that atrocity, Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on Santa Maria Catholic Church in Istanbul, which left one man dead and also led to the rounding up of Tajik citizens accused of committing the crime.
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Hurriyet reported that as part of
the investigation into the attack on churchgoers, captured militants disclosed plans for what was intended to be an assault on the Moscow shopping centre. This intelligence, it said, was shared with Russian authorities, who then ensured the attack could not take place.
In April, amid fears that ISKP has recruited substantial numbers of radicalised Tajik citizens for terrorist operations, Turkey abolished its visa-free entry arrangements for Tajik nationals.
Two days after the Crocus City Hall attack, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported sources as saying that two of the four Tajik gunmen alleged
to committed the terrorist assault on concertgoers probably received instructions for the armed attack when they travelled to Turkey.
It’s important to note that the hierarchy of ISKP is loosely arranged. The group is known to have told militants sympathetic to it that it will claim responsibility for any attack carried out on its behalf. ISKP
“Since the Crocus City Hall attack, Turkey has detained hundreds of individuals on suspicions that they have ties to Islamic State”