Russia continues its hunt for the perpetrators of the Moscow attack. The Russian security services (FSB) announced Monday March 1 that the people arrested the day before in Dagestan and accused of preparing an attack are linked to the perpetrators of the recent attack on Crocus City Hall which left at least 144 dead. 

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) reported on Sunday the arrest, in Makhachkala and Kaspiïsk in the Russian Caucasus, of three people who planned to "commit a series of terrorist crimes", ten days after the attack.

The Russian security services, which for their part reported four people arrested on Sunday, clarified on Monday that these foreign citizens "were preparing a terrorist act in public places in Kaspiïsk", a city located near the capital of Dagestan, Russian Republic unstable Caucasus, with a Muslim majority. These people were arrested in possession of an improvised explosive device and automatic weapons, according to the FSB.

The FSB also claimed that those arrested were "directly involved in financing and providing terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act committed on March 22, 2024" at Crocus City Hall.

The attack was claimed by the jihadist organization Islamic State, although Russian authorities persist in pointing to a Ukrainian trail.

Twelve people were arrested after the massacre, including the four suspected attackers who are from Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia where the Islamic State group is active.

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On Monday, a tenth suspect was remanded in custody until May 22, the press service of the Moscow courts said.

This man, Iakoubdjoni Ioussoufzody, is accused of "terrorism" and of having "transferred money to an accomplice" a few days before the attack in order to "ensure the accommodation of the terrorists". He is also from Tajikistan, Russian agencies said, citing information provided to the court.

Friday evening, the FSB also announced that it had arrested three “nationals of a Central Asian country” who were planning a bomb attack in southwest Russia.

With AFP

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