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Russia’s FSB security service has said that four people arrested on Sunday in a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.
In the deadliest attack to strike Russia in two decades, gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on March 22 and set the building on fire, killing over 140 people.
The FSB said in a statement on Monday that it had arrested a group of four a day earlier in the southern Dagestan region who “were directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act carried out on 22 March in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow.”
On Sunday, Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said it had apprehended three people who were “planning to commit a series of terrorist crimes.”
Four foreign nationals were taken into custody during the operation in the nearby town of Kaspiysk and the regional capital of Makhachkala, the FSB announced on Monday.
One of the men in custody is heard saying, “I took weapons to them, these guys who attacked Crocus City Hall,” in an FSB video that was featured by the news agency Interfax. I brought weapons from Makhachkala to them.
Twelve people have been detained by Russian authorities in connection with the attack, including the four suspected gunmen, who have been identified as Tajik nationals, according to earlier announcements.
Although President Vladimir Putin has played up a connection between the massacre and Ukraine and the West, the Islamic State (IS) has taken credit for the killing, calling it the deadliest it has ever committed on European land.
Kiev and the West have consistently denied any role in the disaster and charged Moscow with “exploiting” it.
In the southern Caucasus region of Russia is Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim area.
Despite both public and private warnings from the US intelligence community that “extremists” were preparing a “imminent” attack on “large gatherings” in Moscow, the FSB has come under fire for failing to stop the attack.
The agency frequently declares that it has stopped so-called “terrorist cells,” but in recent months, it has mostly focused on declaring that pro-Ukrainian saboteurs who were preparing attacks on Russian military installations and infrastructure have been apprehended.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, called the attack a savage act of terrorism and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
He claimed on Saturday that it had detained 11 individuals, including four gunmen.
He announced that Monday would be observed as a national day of mourning and announced the tightening of security measures throughout Russia.
After attacking a concert hall outside of Moscow and killing 143 people, the Islamic State group announced that four of its members had been arrested. Russia had earlier placed the blame on Ukraine.
AFP
