The Federal Security Service of Russia, which is also known as the FSB, has reportedly foiled a terrorist attack by the Islamic State group — also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — in Moscow, and arrested four people who are suspected to have been involved in planning to carry out the attack.
Europol had earlier warned that European nations partnering the United States in its fight against ISIS could be prone to attacks on their own soil, thanks to a change in the group's terror strategy. Late last month, attacks in France — purportedly targeting Disneyland Paris and the Champs Elysees Christmas market — had been foiled.
An FSB statement following the activities in Moscow said: "The activity of a terrorist cell consisting of citizens of Tajikistan and a citizen of Moldova, who planned to commit a series of resonant terrorist attacks in Moscow using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) of high capacity, has been terminated."
The Russian security agency said the attack had been planned by a top commander of ISIS hailing from Turkey. The report added that Tajikistan had put this commander on an international list of individuals wanted for their criminal activities, including terrorism.
The FSB statement said the security agency had conducted detailed investigation, following which they acted on the intelligence they had managed to obtain. That intelligence led to the arrest from houses in Moscow and its surrounding areas of four individuals who were planning to carry out the terror attacks on behalf of ISIS.
The FSB also said that it had seized automatic weapons, ammunition, IEDs and chemicals that could be used to make high-intensity explosives. It may be mentioned here that a recent report had claimed the terrorist group was making weapons that could compete in quality with the militaries of several countries. It is not known at this point if the weapons seized are of that quality.
