The aftermath of the horrifying attack on a music concert hall near Moscow last Friday continues, with an as yet inconclusive casualty toll, claimed by the terrorist organization ISIS.
Confessions… Receiving Money
After the organization posted last night on its Telegram channels a video clip of the attack that shook the country and shocked the world, the Russian Ministry of Defense revealed new information.
Confirming the arrest of the four suspects in the attack in the “Bryansk” province on the Ukrainian border.
The Russian Federal Security Service also stated that the suspects in the Moscow terrorist attack planned to cross the Russian borders.
Russian television broadcast scenes of the interrogation of the four suspects on Saturday, after the Russian authorities announced the arrest of 11 individuals they said were foreign nationals in the Bryansk region, located on the border with Ukraine and Belarus.
Scenes broadcast by the public channel “Pervy Kanal” showed the suspects being led by armed security forces, with three of them having blood-stained faces.
One of the suspects admitted guilt during the interrogation, saying that he carried out the attack for a sum of money.
The accused, Frediun Shams al-Din, born in 1998, said that he arrived from Turkey on March 4th after being recruited via Telegram about two months ago, explaining that he was listening to lectures by one of the “preachers” until he was contacted by a person claiming to be the preacher’s assistant.
He also added that he entered the concert in Moscow and opened fire on people for money, confessing that he received approximately half a million rubles (about $5000). He further explained that he received half the amount via a bank card, indicating that those who contacted him via Telegram provided him with weapons without his knowledge.
In addition, Deputy Alexander Kheinstin revealed that some of the suspects were from Tajikistan, the former Soviet republic in Central Asia adjacent to Afghanistan, where ISIS operates, which claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack.
While the investigation authorities did not mention the nationalities of the suspects, they only referred to them as non-Russian and some from Tajikistan.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov pointed out that Chechen soldiers have been deployed for months in the Bryansk region to maintain security on the border with Ukraine, and they participated in the arrest of the suspects.
Belarus, a Moscow ally, indicated that it participated in operations to prevent the attackers from leaving Russian territory across the shared border.
However, no one in the video recordings mentioned Ukraine or ISIS.
According to Pervy Kanal, the four men were arrested in the village of Khatsone in the Bryansk region.
A Horrific Attack
It is worth noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the suspects were heading towards Ukraine, where they had an exit window across the borders.
The Russian authorities did not mention ISIS claiming responsibility, nor did they address the possibility of fleeing to Belarus.
However, Putin pledged on Saturday to punish those responsible for the attack, which killed 133 people in the suburbs of Moscow the day before.
The Russian president, who declared Sunday a national day of mourning, affirmed that “those behind these terrorists will be punished and face an enviable fate.”
It is worth mentioning that the bloody attack, carried out by firing live ammunition at civilians and also igniting fires through bomb explosions in the concert hall of the “Rokus City” building located about 20 kilometers from the Kremlin, resulted in the death of more than 152 people and injuring dozens.
This came after two weeks of warning from the US embassy in Russia that “extremists” had imminent plans to launch an attack in Moscow.
