China News Service, March 23 (Xinhua) On the 22nd local time, a shooting occurred at a concert hall in the suburbs of the Russian capital Moscow. According to the latest news from the Russian Satellite News Agency, 60 people have been killed and 145 injured. The extremist organization "Islamic State" claimed that responsible for the attack.

　　What is the origin of this "Islamic State" that has committed deadly crimes in many places around the world? Over the past few years, the United States, Russia and other countries have continued to attack it, but the organization has continued to metamorphose and spread, showing a "dead but not dead" attitude. United Nations officials have warned that the potential "spillover effects" of "Islamic State" could spread to multiple regions.

Russian media reported that the audience had already taken their seats before the start of a concert at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk that night. Suddenly several unidentified people broke into the concert hall and opened fire. The concert hall subsequently exploded, caught fire and billowed out thick smoke, and the roof was almost engulfed in flames. The picture shows a screenshot of the live video released. Picture/Visual China

At one time it had 30,000 armed men

What is the origin of "Islamic State"?

　　"Islamic State" is an extremist organization in the Middle East. Its predecessor was founded by Jordanian extremist Zarqawi in Iraq between 2002 and 2003. It is nominally the branch of "Al Qaeda" in Iraq.

　　The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once analyzed that after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, there was a power vacuum in Iraq and violence swept across the country. After the United States withdrew its troops from Iraq, the anti-terrorism mess left behind by the US military gave birth to the rise of the extremist organization "Islamic State", forming a new active zone for terrorist organizations between Iraq and Syria.

　　After 2011, this organization took advantage of the Syrian civil war to expand its control from northern Iraq to northern Syria. In June 2014, it changed its name to "Islamic State" and established its so-called "capital" in Raqqa, Syria. .

　　At its peak, the "Islamic State" once had about 30,000 armed personnel and was the most active extremist organization in the Middle East at that time.

　　The "Islamic State" makes money everywhere through taxation, smuggling of oil and cultural relics, robbery, kidnapping and extortion. It was once called the "richest terrorist organization" in the world.

November 13, 2018 was the third anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks. People paid their respects in front of the Bataclan Theater in Paris, one of the places where the terrorist attacks occurred. The terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 killed 130 people, 90 of whom were killed at the Bataclan theatre. Photo by China News Service reporter Li Yang

Launched multiple indiscriminate attacks

Spreading to many major cities in Europe and America

　　After the establishment of the "Islamic State", it continued to launch attacks in the Middle East.

　　Not only in the Middle East, the "Islamic State" also frequently launches terrorist attacks in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and other European countries as well as the United States, and has committed many fatal attacks.

　　On November 13, 2015, multiple terrorist groups belonging to the "Islamic State" launched terrorist attacks near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, and in the city of Paris, killing a total of 130 people and injuring 350 others, shocking the world.

　　On July 14, 2016, Nice, France was attacked again by the "Islamic State", resulting in a tragedy of 87 deaths and 306 injuries. This was less than a year after the Paris attacks.

　　In December of the same year, France's neighbor Germany was not spared. The German capital Berlin was attacked by the "Islamic State", killing 12 people and injuring 48 others.

　　The following year, the attacks also spread to the United Kingdom and the United States. Many major cities in the United Kingdom and the United States, including London, New York, and Manchester, suffered terrorist attacks. After the attacks, the "Islamic State" claimed "responsibility."

　　Continuous indiscriminate attacks have made the "Islamic State" an extremely unstable factor stirring up the world.

On October 27, 2019, then-President Trump announced at the White House that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the top leader of the extremist organization "Islamic State", had committed suicide in a US military raid. The picture shows people standing in the ruins after the military operation.

Continuous attacks by many countries

Still "dead but not stiff"?

　　In fact, since 2014, the multinational coalition led by the US military has been attacking the "Islamic State" forces entrenched in Syria and Iraq.

　　At the same time, Russia has continued to carry out attacks on "Islamic State" militants since 2015.

　　In 2019, many parties achieved significant results in the fight against the "Islamic State". Earlier that year, the United States announced that it had defeated the "Islamic State". The extremist organization that once "ruled" nearly 8 million people in Syria and Iraq fell into disintegration.

　　In October of the same year, then-President Trump announced that the leader of the "Islamic State" Baghdadi had been killed in a US military raid. The organization suffered another setback after losing its last area of ​​​​hold.

　　After Baghdadi's death, his two successors also died in 2022 at the hands of US military operations and the Syrian opposition.

　　Despite this, the organization's toxic influence is far from gone. Not only has it metamorphosed and spread within Syria, but its dispersed forces around the world are also still active.

　　Voronkov, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, once pointed out that combating the extremist organization "Islamic State" and its affiliated organizations is still a long-term struggle with no "quick solution."

　　Voronkov pointed out that the potential "spillover effect" of the "Islamic State" may affect multiple regions. He urged all countries to use all the tools at hand to maintain the important results of the fight against the "Islamic State", prevent its further regional expansion, and curb its attacks. capacity and prevent it from recruiting additional personnel. (over)