The perpetrators were arrested hours after four gunmen on Friday night stormed Crocus City Hall, Moscow, and began shooting at about 6,000 people who were attending a Picnic band concert. Information obtained from the BBC, Islamic groups or ISIS claimed the deadly attack was hours after the incident. ISIS stated that the attack was carried out by a branch known as the Islamic State in Khorasan, or IS-K.
According to preliminary information covered by Republika, four men walked quietly towards the metal detector at the Crocus Town Hall concert hall. Then they fired automatic rifle fire at the civilians who were running around and were afraid to avoid a rain of bullets. Witnesses said the perpetrators were wearing camouflage clothing and combat vests containing dozens of spare magazines. They arrived at Crocus Town Hall at around 7:40 p.m. local time by minivan. They came out of the back door and went straight to the entrance of the concert hall with weapons.
The attack caused a huge fire in the building. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) initially reported 40 people were killed and more than 100 others injured as a result of the incident. The fire quickly spread through the Crocus City concert hall in the northern suburbs of Moscow, Krasnogorsk.
The four perpetrators of the attack were successfully secured and tried in a Russian court, the perpetrators of the attack included Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Muodali, Rachabalizoda Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov. When they appeared in court on Sunday (24/3), Mirzoyev and Rachabalizoda had bruises in their eyes, and Rachabalizoda's ears were bandaged. Fayzov was taken to court in a wheelchair and lost one eye according to a Reuters report. While Fariduni's face is swollen.
Jovanni Ath-Thoriq Putra Indy Wirawan, a Communication Science student, gave a response about ISIS's involvement in the attack at Crocus City Hall, Moscow.
"ISIS involvement is a strong allegation because Russia has sought cooperation with the Taliban group and Russian involvement in the war in Syria, According to Informan, ISIS has also had problems with Russia by bombing Russian planes flying from Egypt, as well as attacks on the Russian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2022." Said Jojo when interviewed online via Whatsapp.
The reason was reinforced by the Director of the South Asia Institute, Michael Kugelm that the ISIS cell from Khorasan attacking Russia was a Taliban factor. "The Taliban are the worst enemy of ISIS and they consider Russia as a friend of the Taliban," said the Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, Michael Kugelman who was covered by the BBC (25/3/2024).
Jovanni Ath-Thoriq Putra Indy Wirawan also gave the reason why ISIS attacked Russia.
"From the information I got, a professor whose name is Amira Jadoon said that the ISIS attack on Moscow was due to Russia's involvement in the war in Syria against ISIS, then there was also something to do with the Russian state's efforts to establish cooperation with the Taliban group that made ISIS angry with Russia, the ISIS referred to here came from Khorasan Afghanistan, which was the target of their attack was the Taliban group and the Shia group. Now, only the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin himself is of the view that this attack has something to do with Ukraine and thinks that the US side is hiding something behind this, although it is not clear, the evidence and prejudice from the media are indeed towards the extremists of Islam in the Middle East, because the perpetrator who was caught by the FSB was identified as coming from the country of Tajikistan because his passport was caught, so it is difficult to blame Ukraine or the US," said Jojo when interviewed online via Whatsapp.
Thus, Jovanni Ath-Thoriq Putra Indy Wirawan gave a future analysis and hope regarding the attack on Crocus City Hall.
"What I am sure is that there will be super tight guard from Russia itself, considering how Vladimir Putin if there is a problem of attack, and some people in the world also seem to be more Islamophobia, because the arrested perpetrators are indeed from Central Asian countries, it is possible that the image of Islam in the eyes of the world is getting worse. It is possible that from me, Russia will not be silent about this, they will definitely continue to dig up the information and the mastermind, so hopefully it will not spread into a war to Central Asian countries or ISIS, I'm afraid it will become the 3rd world war," said Jojo when interviewed online via Whatsapp.
