"Vilayat Khorasan", details of the biographies of the suspects and versions of the terrorist attack

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March 24, 2024

Russian intelligence services closely monitored the activities of the Afghan terrorist group Vilayat Khorasan, banned in Russia. A few days before the terrorist attack, members of the Security Council received a warning that Tajik citizens could be used in terrorist attacks on Russian territory. Even before the attack on Crocus City Hall, a source close to the intelligence services told the Dossier Center about this.

Wilayat Khorasan is the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS). Initially, it fought the Taliban movement, which, unlike ISIS, wants to build an Islamic national state on the territory of Afghanistan instead of a global caliphate. After the Taliban came to power, Wilayat Khorasan reoriented itself towards international terrorism. “Experts noted back in 2022 that ISKP chose Russia as one of its main external enemies, along with other “empires” - the USA and China, ” Meduza notes .

Wilayat Khorasan claimed responsibility for the bombing at the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul on September 5, 2022, which killed five people. Recently, the terrorist group has intensified its activities. Thus, in December 2023, several citizens of Tajikistan were detained in Austria , who, according to the Bild newspaper, were members of Vilayat Khorasan and were planning terrorist attacks. Another citizen of Tajikistan was detained in Germany. Police in Cologne, Germany later announced they had arrested three more terrorism suspects linked to the first arrests. According to police, they were planning an attack on Cologne Cathedral using a car. Also on the eve of the New Year, members of Vilayat Khorasan were detained in Jalalabad, the third largest city in Kyrgyzstan. According to local intelligence services, they planned to plant an explosive device near the main city Christmas tree and attack an Orthodox church.

Russian law enforcement authorities monitored these reports and considered the risk of terrorist attacks in Russia high. However, it was not possible to prevent the attack on Crocus City Hall, despite warnings about the threat. Let us recall that on March 7, the American side handed over to Russia information about the preparation of a terrorist attack, and also notified its citizens about the possible threat of attacks during mass events in Moscow. On March 19, speaking before the FSB board, Vladimir Putin called these “provocative messages.” “All this resembles outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society,” Putin said.

Distance from the Moscow OMON headquarters to Crocus City Hall

Law enforcement officers arrived at the scene of the tragedy an hour after the first shots were fired, although the headquarters of the Moscow riot police is located less than 3 km from Crocus City Hall (Tvardovsky St., 2). According to media reports, the terrorists entered the concert hall no later than 19:55. As of 21:00, OMON and SOBR were preparing to storm Crocus City Hall. At least four of the attackers managed to escape and reach Bryansk, despite the abundance of CCTV cameras in Moscow and on nearby highways.

What else is known about the attack and the suspects?

The terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall building occurred on March 22 before the concert of the Picnic group. According to the latest data from the Investigative Committee, 137 people were killed and another 154 were injured as a result of the terrorist attack. Judging by footage from social networks, there were at least four terrorists inside the room. In the video recordings of March 22, it is almost impossible to determine their appearance and compare them with those who were detained on the night of March 22-23. After the publication of the video by the Amaq agency, we were able to identify two suspects based on their clothing during the attack and in the footage of the arrest. It is unknown how the video got to the Amaq agency - the suspects could have sent it before their arrest, or it could have been done by their unknown accomplices.

Currently, several versions of the organizers of the terrorist attack are being considered.

Islamic radicals (most likely version)

If the footage published by Amaq is original and the subtitles are correct, then the perpetrators of the terrorist attack probably swore allegiance to ISIS.

Subtitles for the video published by Amaq agency:

"Faster Faster. Carry a machine gun. Kill, do not spare them. The infidels will be defeated, insha Allah. Allahu Akbar-Allahu Akbar (Allah is great). We came for the sake of Allah and to support his religion.”

The Dossier Center does not have enough biographical data on each of the detainees to assess the strength of their Islamic radicalism (more about the suspects below). It is noteworthy that one of the detainees almost immediately explained his action as receiving financial gain, which contradicts the values ​​of radical Islam.

The version of the participation of radical Islamists is supported by the American authorities, according to whom the Vilayat Khorasan may be behind the terrorist attack. This is explained by the rapprochement between Russia and the Taliban after the withdrawal of the American military from Afghanistan (ISIS is an enemy of the Taliban). In a comment to The New York Time, an analyst with the Soufan Group also suggested that ISIS may have played a role in the attack: “ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years. <…> ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood on its hands, citing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”

Islamic terrorism is perhaps the most frightening version for the Russian authorities, who over the past few years have been constructing Ukraine and the West as the main threats to Russia. She undermines the reputation of the special services and Vladimir Putin, who “blinked” to the real danger, despite his regular statements about preventing terrorist attacks, eliminating militants and defeating ISIS.

Ukrainian trace

Russian propaganda media received instructions from the Russian Presidential Administration to emphasize the possible “Ukrainian trace” in publications about the terrorist attack, Meduza found out . State media and pro-Kremlin bloggers are actively promoting the theory that the suspects were in touch with representatives of Ukrainian intelligence. That is why they allegedly headed towards the border with Ukraine in order to subsequently escape. However, this version is not confirmed by the partial testimony of the detainees - not one of them talks about the Ukrainian trace, even despite the torture (we are sure that if any of the suspects mentioned Ukraine, this part of the interrogation would immediately “leak” to the network). Filming of the arrests of suspects was carried out near the turn from the M3 "Ukraine" highway to the village of Khatsun (Bryansk region) - that is, about 140 km from the border with Ukraine. At the same time, the Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Dmitry Krutoy pointed out that employees of the Belarusian special services “helped prevent terrorists from escaping across our common border.”

"Ryazan Sugar-2"

The option of provocation on the part of the Russian special services (FSB or GRU) is technically possible, but in this case it would be much more profitable to blame the Ukrainians rather than Islamic radicals of Tajik origin. There are versions that the terrorist attack could serve as a reason to announce a second wave of mobilization, but the connection between the mobilization and ISIS is not obvious. And in order to tighten the migration regime or repression, the authorities have not needed such a tragic reason for a long time.

Suspects:

1. Muhammadsobir Zakirchonovych Fayzov

Fayzov practiced mixed martial arts in Ivanovo. Source: TG, Simple MMA topics https://t.me/prosto_mmatematika

Born on May 20, 2004, citizen of Tajikistan.

Lived in the Ivanovo region, since November 2023 he worked as a hairdresser at the My Style barbershop in the city of Teykovo. On January 11, 2024, he allegedly announced his decision to quit due to low salary.

Fayzov probably had a second VKontakte profile, where he published messages related to Islam:

In one of the photographs he depicted an ISIS flag. At the time of publication he was 12 years old.

Source: VKontakte

2. Shahindjoni Abdugarfar Safolzoda

Source: telegram channel Baza

Born 07/28/2002, citizen of Tajikistan

The orientation indicates that he is on Russian territory from July 29, 2023 to the present. From August 1 to October 29, 2022, he also lived in Ivanovo.

Safolzoda knew Faizov, the Dossier Center found out. On August 1, 2022, they flew on the same flight from Dushanbe to the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow (Flight: U68428 Arrival: 08/01/2022 10:05). They are friends on VKontakte and have a mutual friend from Tajikistan, who also lived in the Ivanovo region.

3. Rivozhidin Zokirdzhonovich Fayzov

Brother Muhammadsobira Faizova

Date of birth: 20.05.2004

4. Shamsiddin Faridouni

Source: screenshot from video of Fariduni’s interrogation

Date of birth: 17.09.1998

During interrogation, Fariduni claimed that he had recently flown to Turkey “for the sake of documents” and returned to Russia on March 4. In the interrogation footage, he was the only one of the suspects who said that he shot people for the promised half a million rubles from a certain preacher’s assistant who contacted him on Telegram. Fariduni was familiar with the Crocus City Hall building - he was present at the event on March 7. He was identified by a photographer taking pictures of visitors.

In the video footage published by the Amaq agency, Fariduni could not be identified - either he was filming on his phone, or he is the fifth person who does not appear in the video. However, in a photograph previously published by Amaq, Fariduni can be distinguished by the T-shirt he was wearing when he was detained.

Source: Amaq Agency

5. Rajab Alizadeh (Alizadeh)

Suspect with a cut off ear.

Source: Screenshot from video of interrogation of Alizadeh

Source: Screenshot from video published by Amaq agency

In a recent video from the Amaq news agency, Alizadeh appears at about 17 seconds and shoots already wounded people. This conclusion can be made by comparing the emblem on the jacket on the left (in the Amaq footage) and the footage of Alizadeh’s detention.

6. Unknown detainee

Source: Screenshot from video of Mirzoev’s interrogation

According to pro-Kremlin blogger Semyon Pegov, the suspect's name is Zalerdan Talir Mirzoev. The Dossier Center could not find a person with that name in social networks or databases (however, the latter is not surprising if he is a citizen of Tajikistan).

The suspect appears, with a high degree of probability, from 34 seconds into the video footage published by the Amaq agency, stabbing a man. It can be determined by comparing the color of the jeans and the belt in the footage during the terrorist attack and the arrest.

Transcript of part of Mirzoev’s interrogation:

It was also reported that two participants (names unknown) of the terrorist attack died: one in the auditorium of Crocus City Hall, the second during the detention of a car in the Bryansk region. Novaya Gazeta managed to identify the man killed during his arrest near Bryansk. He turned out to be a citizen of Tajikistan S.M. Rachibalizoda. Journalists found out that he lived in Podolsk and in 2018, having violated his period of stay in Russia, received a fine of five thousand rubles. His Instagram page published several speeches by Shaikh Muhammad Solehi Purdil, whose information resource is recognized as extremist.

Original source -

https://dossier.center/teract/

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