Within hours of a deadly gun assault on a suburban Moscow concert hall on Friday, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, said it was behind the violence.
The United States says it has intelligence that confirms this. Security analysts concur the claim is plausible and largely consistent with how the militant group operates.
Here’s a brief look at why Russia is dealing with an ongoing ISIS-K threat.
Origins of ISIS-K
Roughly a decade old, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) is named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
After emerging in eastern Afghanistan, ISIS-K quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.
One of the
