#kabul airport bombings

[touromania]

Stop Doing This In Kabul

Stop Doing This In Kabul

BEST ACCOMMODATION DEALS IN KABUL HERE GET TO KNOW THE CITY Kabul is the capital and largest city in Afghanistan. It has a population of around 4.6 million people and is divided into 22 districts. Its rapid urbanization makes it the world’s 75th largest city. Kabul is located in a valley between the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Kabul River, making it one of the world’s highest capital cities.…

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#afganistan women protest in kabul #afghanistan kabul news #gurdwara attacked in kabul #gurdwara attacked in kabul afghanistan #gurudwara attacked in kabul #isis suicide bombs at kabul #kabul #kabul (city/town/village) #kabul airport #kabul airport bombings #kabul airport bombs #kabul airport news #kabul airport today #kabul news #kabul sikh attack #old kabul #suicide bomber in kabul #taliban in kabul #taliban kabul #taliban kabul news

[memenewsdotcom]

Kabul airport bombing mastermind killed

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#afghanistan #bombing #islamic state #kabul #Kabul Airport #meme #memes #middle east #news #taliban #terrorism

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

Sgt. Nicole Gee, a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, cradles an Afghan infant during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 24, 2021.

The 23 year-old wrote "I love me job" on her Instagram caption, as her unit was tasked with processing thousands of Afghan and American evacuees through the airport gates.

Just two days later, on August 26, 2021, Sgt. Gee and 12 of her fellow service members were killed in a suicide bombing at the airport.

Fair winds and following seas to Sgt. Gee and those who gave their lives to help protect and save others. Your sacrifice was not in vain and you will never be forgotten. Semper Fi. 🇺🇸

#usmc #us marines #afghanistan #kabul #airport #nicole gee #sgt nicole gee #rest in peace #never forgotten #military

[bighermie]

NEVER FORGET: On the 2-Year Anniversary of the Kabul Airport Bombing that Killed 13 American Servicemen and Women - MILITARY BRASS KNEW OF THE ATTACK 24 HOURS PRIOR TO BOMBING - Would Not Let Snipers Take Out Bomber | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

[mariacallous]

The mass shooting and fire at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22 was the deadliest terrorist attack Russia has seen since the 2004 Beslan school siege. The gunmen’s actions claimed at least 137 lives and injured 180 others. The four suspects currently in custody are citizens of Tajikistan. But Russian authorities are doing their best to connect the attack to Ukraine. Sources in Western intelligence, meanwhile, say it was the work of the Islamic State-Khorasan, a branch of the Islamic State also known as ISIS-K. Experts note that ISIS-K has declared Russia among its main enemies (along with the U.S. and China). Meduza breaks down what you need to know about ISIS-K and why the group has Russia in its sights.

What is ISIS-K?

ISIS-K, or the Islamic State-Khorasan, is a branch of the Islamic State that operates primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Formally, the organization governs an ISIS province (wilayah, in Arabic) and reports to the ISIS caliph. Currently, this position is held by Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, whose four predecessors were killed in U.S. operations.

According to ISIS ideology, its caliphate, or state, aims to span the entire globe. The organization has divided the world into provinces, some of which are headed by local Islamist movements that operated before ISIS came into existence (for instance, ones connected to Al-Qaeda). In fact, ISIS itself emerged when the Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq severed ties with the global Al-Qaeda leadership.

Similarly, the Afghan-Pakistani branch of the Islamic State, ISIS-K, emerged in 2015 as a local movement. Initially, the group was composed of several thousand opponents of Afghanistan’s pro-American government, mostly Pashtuns, who were disillusioned with the Taliban. ISIS-K immediately started engaging in armed conflicts with the U.S. army, the Afghan government, and, even more brutally, with the Taliban.

The Taliban’s ideology fundamentally differs from that of ISIS. The Taliban aim to establish a national Islamic State in Afghanistan, while ISIS supporters advocate for world domination and the defeat of all “infidels.” Islamic nationalism won out in Afghanistan (and neighboring Pakistan), and by 2018, the Taliban (with the unofficial help of U.S. air support) had virtually destroyed ISIS-K’s organized resistance in the eastern provinces. U.S. forces killed several of the group’s leaders and, according to experts, the organization’s numbers were severely depleted, going from several thousand to a few hundred people.

Sanaullah Ghafari, who took over ISIS-K’s leadership, shifted the group’s strategy from direct armed confrontations to increasingly ruthless acts of terrorism against the Taliban, religious minorities, and Americans. During the U.S. troop withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021, he allegedly orchestrated a suicide bombing at the airport gate through which refugees fleeing Taliban rule were trying to enter. The attack killed 182 people, including 13 U.S. servicemen.

ISIS-K later expanded its list of enemies to include Russia, among others. On September 5, 2022, an explosion near the Russian embassy in Kabul killed five people, including two embassy staff. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack. In January 2024, more than 90 people were killed in twin explosions in Kerman in Iran. U.S. intelligence confirmed ISIS-K orchestrated the attacks. However, Taliban agents allegedly killed Ghafari in 2023, and it’s unclear who’s currently at the helm of ISIS-K. That said, judging by the Iran attacks, its strategy remains unchanged.

Why Russia?

Radical Islamists have long accused Russia of being a state that “oppresses Muslims” both at home and abroad. ISIS propaganda regularly mentions Russia’s past military campaigns in Afghanistan and Chechnya, and Moscow’s intervention in support of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria put an even bigger target on its back.

ISIS-K leadership has seen the initial success of ISIS leadership, which capitalized politically on the global struggle against “infidel empires” such as the United States, China, Iran, and Russia. Prioritizing “external operations” could yield far greater political and financial benefits (in the form of donations) than working with local resources.

There are also deeper reasons for the particular hostility towards Russia. In recent years, ISIS-K has been trying to expand the movement’s ethnic base — both in Afghanistan and beyond. In the northern regions of Afghanistan, where many ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks live, its numbers are growing. ISIS-K regularly threatens Central Asian authorities, calling them ���puppets of the Russian empire.” In this sense, the struggle against Russia is a fight for resources: primarily for radically minded supporters in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and neighboring countries.

Was ISIS-K behind the attack?

There’s still no publicly available indisputable evidence that ISIS-K organized the attack. However, ISIS has claimed responsibility, and sources told CNN that the U.S. is in possession of intelligence confirming these claims. The New York Times also reported that Washington considers ISIS-K to be behind the attack.

Ruslan Suleymanov, a Middle East expert, expressed skepticism to Meduza about whether ISIS-K currently possesses the necessary resources to organize such a large-scale terrorist attack on the outskirts of Moscow. However, the attack doesn’t appear to have been “high-tech” in nature: the perpetrators clearly had problems with their escape plan, as well as with weapons. (In a video from the attack, sparks are seen flying from the barrel of one of the machine guns, which could indicate that either the ammunition or the weapons themselves were in poor condition.)

Suleymanov said it’s also difficult to confirm whether messages on ISIS Telegram channels are authentic as the group’s accounts are regularly blocked, forcing it to create new ones. The posts about the Moscow attack come from ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency, not from ISIS-K directly. In one picture, the four alleged “participants in the operation” are shown with blurred faces against the backdrop of the Islamic State flag. Amaq later released a first-person body-cam video that clearly shows the attack on Crocus City Hall, corroborating the Islamic State’s involvement.

[beardedmrbean]

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for the family of a Marine killed in Afghanistan said Thursday that a new version of a lawsuit accusing actor Alec Baldwin of unleashing his social media followers against them will soon be filed after a federal judge dismissed the original lawsuit but invited the family to rewrite it and submit it again.

Attorney Dennis Postiglione, representing the sisters and widow of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said he'll meet a Sept. 12 deadline set by the judge to renew allegations that Baldwin subjected family members to online threats and harassment after he posted and commented on a photo shared online by one of McCollum’s sisters, Roice McCollum, who had been in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Earlier this week, Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan dismissed the family's defamation lawsuit, which sought $25 million in damages, but he invited a refiling of the lawsuit to correct deficiencies and renew claims of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In tossing out the original lawsuit, Ramos made various conclusions in Baldwin's favor, including that his comments were protected by the First Amendment, that actual malice was not sufficiently alleged and that private messages, comments and social media posts did not support defamation claims.

Postiglione said in an email that a rewritten lawsuit will be filed by the deadline that will address issues the judge raised.

He added: “Without getting into specifics, we disagree with the analysis by the Court but believe an amended Complaint will address the issues presented.”

Luke Nikas, Baldwin's lawyer, responded Friday to a request for comment with a statement, saying the dismissal of the lawsuit by Ramos was “a victory for the First Amendment.”

He added: "We have successfully had this lawsuit dismissed twice, and Plaintiffs have already amended their complaint three times. We fully expect the Court will uphold Alec Baldwin’s First Amendment rights and dismiss this lawsuit yet again.”

Baldwin had donated $5,000 to the family after learning of the death of Rylee McCollum in a bombing at the airport in Kabul in August 2021, just weeks before his daughter was born. Baldwin had contacted Roice McCollum via Instagram, according to the lawsuit.

In January 2022, Baldwin saw that Roice McCollum posted a picture of demonstrators from former President Donald Trump’s rally taken on the day Congress counted the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election, the lawsuit said.

Baldwin told Roice McCollum he would share her photo with his 2.4 million Instagram followers and wrote: “Good luck,” according to the lawsuit.

Roice McCollum said in the lawsuit that she “did not take part in, nor did she support or condone the rioting that erupted” at the Capitol, and was cleared of any wrongdoing after meeting with the FBI.

#nunyas news

[roboe1]

In The News Feed:Daily Update.3/8/2023.

US News, World News, Politics, Commentary. US News: Marine in Kabul airport blast says he was told not to shoot ISIS bomber Vargas-Andrews lost an arm and a leg in the explosion.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik WASHINGTON — A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS…

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#California #Commentary #Jan 6th. #Jordan Peterson #Politics #Tarik Johnson #The Bible #Tucker Carlson #US News #Veterans #World News

[dumbestthingiveeverheard]

Dumbest Thing I've Ever Heard: 8/10/2023

Fifth Place: Joe Manchin

Once again, Senator Manchin is threatened to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent. Of course, Manchin has been talking about doing exactly this for months--even throwing around the idea of a possible Presidential run at several points--and one simply has to wonder: Why doesn't he just do it? Nobody in the Democratic Party thinks particularly highly of the man who spent two years trying to stop President Biden's agenda with the same adamancy of the average Republican, and his only actual friends seem to be a handful of moderate Republicans to whom the only concern is stopping Biden. Manchin hasn't even managed to keep the people of his state happy with his moderation, hence why he has kept doing worse each election, which is especially striking given Manchin replaced Robert Byrd, the longest serving Senator in US history and somebody way to the left of Manchin.

Fourth Place: Cal Thomas

Two years after the fact, Thomas has not forgiven Biden for withdrawing American troops from the disastrous war in Afghanistan, easily the bravest move of his Administration. Of course, although the stories of the death of soldiers from the  Kabul Airport bombing are tragic, it is important to remember that it was Biden who put a stop to them through getting the troops out of Afghanistan! Had Biden not withdrawn from the nation, thousands of military men would still be in harms way.

Third Place: Jake Tapper

Sometimes, I see a question so moronic in a political interview I just have to stop and think "Wow, did Jake Tapper ask it?" Hence his recent one on one with Senator Elizabeth Warren, where he says regarding the Hunter Biden controversy "That can’t be something that you’re comfortable with as a phenomenon." Mind you, exactly what bearing the comfortability of Elizabeth Warren has on the story is not explained, nor did Tapper bother to give a reason as to why he's asking a sitting Senator about a serious political scandal questions that sound more like he's trying to sell her a pillow.

Or did I forget the Constitution says a President can be impeached "on high crimes and misdemeanors or if they personally make Elizabeth Warren uncomfortable"?

Second Place: Asa Hutchinson

While everybody is making fun of Donald Trump for possibly skipping the first Republican debate, Hutchinson defended Trump because "we want to talk about the issues." Said issues being--what exactly? Wokeness? Cancel culture? Transgender athletes? Asa, I hate to tell you this, but your party doesn't care about issues--it cares about cartoon boogeymen and Donald Trump, and that will be what these debates are about regardless of if Trump is on the debate stage or not.

Winner: Ron DeSantis

Do you know who's ahead of him in some polls now? Chris Christie! How does this man think he is going to be President?

Ron DeSantis, you've done the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

#joe manchin #cal thomas #jake tapper #asa hutchinson #ron desantis

[visitafghanistan]

Ariana Afghan Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 On the eve of British withdrawal “west of Suez” in the late 1950s, several nations that previously relied on British airline services began setting up their own flag carriers. The kingdom of Afghanistan was no different, and in January 1955, Aryana Airlines was established, with the government of Afghanistan owning a controlling interest. Operations began shortly thereafter with a fleet of three Douglas DC-3s. In 1957, Pan American Airways bought a 49% share in Aryana, which was subsequently renamed Ariana Afghan Airlines as it began expanding its routes with the help of Pan American. To further expand its fleet, Ariana was given $1.1 million in US aid. In 1967, the Afghani government split off Ariana’s domestic routes to a new airline, Bakhtar Alwatana. Ariana then relied on three Boeing 727s and a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 for international routes. The Soviet-Afghan War (1980-1988) hurt Ariana, but it was able to continue its international routes, though it was forced to sell the DC-10 under Soviet pressure to buy Tupolev Tu-154s. Bakhtar took over Ariana in 1985, but this was short-lived; once the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988, Bakhtar ceased operations and became Ariana Afghan once more.  The collapse of the civil order in Afghanistan after the takeover of the Taliban had a similar effect on Ariana. UN sanctions reduced Ariana to domestic operations in Afghanistan and flights to Pakistan and Dubai; making matters worse was Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network using Ariana as essentially a courier and transportation service. Al-Qaeda terrorists, using false Ariana employment papers, were able to gain access to several nations to commit terrorist acts, including the 1999 Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings. Following the September 11 attacks and the United States’ subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, most of Ariana’s surviving fleet was destroyed in October 2001 by airstrikes on Kabul airport.   With the Taliban removed from power, UN restrictions on Ariana Afghan were lifted, and Air India donated three Airbus A300s for international operations; Ariana relied on its surviving 727s for domestic operations, and later acquired A310s as well. Ariana resumed international flights in 2002. However, in 2006, the EU banned Ariana from flying to Europe, citing maintenance and security concerns. As of this writing, the ban has yet to be lifted, and with Afghanistan’s continued political turmoil, Ariana’s future remains in doubt.  YA-LAS was delivered to Ariana in 1979 and flew with them until 1985, when it was sold to British Caledonian. It was converted to a cargo aircraft and started a new career with Centurion Air Cargo from 2004 to 2010, was retired, and was last known to be in storage at Opa-Locka Airport in 2016.

#Ariana Afghan Airlines #DC-10

[planetarybound]

Hurt (Johnny Cash) but you're evacuating Kabul Airport

HistoryFeels 146K subscribers 375,631 views Mar 24, 2022 I hurt myself, today. To see if I still 𝓕𝓮𝓮𝓵

The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 20-year long war in Afghanistan. On 15 August 2021, the Taliban seized the capital city of Kabul as the Afghan government under President Ashraf Ghani dissolved, the speed of which surprised the US government. With Taliban fighters surrounding the city, the US embassy evacuated and retreated to Hamid Karzai International Airport. On 26 August, there was a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing 11 Marines, one Navy Corpsman and upwards of 70 Afghan citizens. A 13th US service member succumbed to his wounds the next day. Following the last US flight, Taliban soldiers entered the airport and declared victory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdra…

https://www.patreon.com/HistoryFeelshttps://discord.gg/4rsXbZ7bYT

Many, many thanks to Patrons!

Hokin Sheba Kristian Nico Captain Max Sasson Idris AlexInTheOcean DSoulCrusher

#Afghanistan #Hurt Johnny Cash #Hurt #Johnny Cash #Kabul #Youtube

[touromania]

Stop Doing This In Kabul

Stop Doing This In Kabul

BEST ACCOMMODATION DEALS IN KABUL HERE GET TO KNOW THE CITY Kabul is the capital and largest city in Afghanistan. It has a population of around 4.6 million people and is divided into 22 districts. Its rapid urbanization makes it the world’s 75th largest city. Kabul is located in a valley between the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Kabul River, making it one of the world’s highest capital cities.…

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#afganistan women protest in kabul #afghanistan kabul news #gurdwara attacked in kabul #gurdwara attacked in kabul afghanistan #gurudwara attacked in kabul #isis suicide bombs at kabul #kabul #kabul (city/town/village) #kabul airport #kabul airport bombings #kabul airport bombs #kabul airport news #kabul airport today #kabul news #kabul sikh attack #old kabul #suicide bomber in kabul #taliban in kabul #taliban kabul #taliban kabul news

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.8 (after 1940)

1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. 1942 – World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula. 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. 1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic. 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre. 1945 – The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1946 – Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn. 1950 – The Tollund Man was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark. 1957 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem began a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor. 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis. 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. 1970 – The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be. 1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation. 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants. 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. 1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox. 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour. 1984 – The USSR announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries. 1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances. 1987 – The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history". 1997 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people. 2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection. 2021 – A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150.

#Events

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

Pictured from left to right: Cpl. Hunter Lopez, HM3 Max Soviak and Cpl. Daegan Page, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment while serving in Kabul, Afghanistan.

All three men lost their lives during the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, on August 26, 2021.

Fair winds and following seas to these brave warriors and to their fellow service members who gave their lives to help protect and save others. Your sacrifice was not in vain and you will never be forgotten. Semper Fi. 🦅🌎⚓️

(Photo is courtesy of Max Soviak’s Instagram)

#usmc #us marines #infantry #grunts #afghanistan #us navy #corpsman #max soviak #daegan page #hunter lopez #never forgotten #warriors #rest in peace

[bighermie]

After Losing 13 Service Members in Kabul, Biden's Final Order Focuses on Picking Up "Human Feces" Not Recovering $80 Billion in Military Equipments Left Behind | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

[mariacallous]

Despite attempts by President Vladimir Putin and Russia's state-controlled media to pin the blame for Friday's deadly Moscow theatre attack on Ukraine, more details are emerging about the jihadist group IS-K that has claimed it was behind it.

Who or what is IS-K?

IS-K is an abbreviation of Islamic State-Khorasan - a regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, which has been proscribed as a terror organisation by governments across the world.

It is focused on Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan and into Central Asia.

The group has given itself the name Khorasan as that was part of an historic Islamic caliphate spanning that region.

IS-K has been around for nine years but in recent months it has emerged as the most dangerous branch of the Islamic State group, with a long reach and a reputation for extreme brutality and cruelty.

Along with what is left of the group's wider leadership in Syria and Iraq, IS-K aspires to a pan-national Islamic caliphate ruled through an ultra-strict interpretation of Sharia, Islamic law.

In Afghanistan it is waging a sporadic but still deadly insurgency against the country's rulers, the Taliban, who it opposes on ideological grounds.

Has IS-K carried out attacks before?

It targeted the chaotic evacuation from Kabul airport in 2021 with a suicide bomb, killing 170 Afghans and 13 US servicemen.

The following year it targeted the Russian embassy in Kabul, killing at least six people and injuring others.

The group has carried out indiscriminate attacks on a maternity ward, bus stations and policemen.

In January this year, IS-K carried out a double bombing of a shrine in Kerman, Iran, killing nearly 100 Iranians.

In Russia it has carried out numerous small-scale attacks, the most recent being in 2020 - and already this year the FSB, Russia's internal security service, says it has stopped several terror plots.

Who were the Moscow attackers?

According to Russian state media the four men captured and charged are all Tajiks from the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

It is obvious from their battered and bruised appearance in court that they have been especially harshly interrogated to the point of torture.

The problem with that is according to international norms, their confessions will be worthless - people will say anything to make the pain stop, including confessing to a narrative that is simply untrue.

Reports have emerged that one of the men was seen carrying out surveillance of the venue in early March, around the time the US warned Russia there was an imminent threat of a terrorist attack on a public space - a warning the Kremlin dismissed at the time as "propaganda".

Another report says at least two of the attackers arrived in Russia recently, implying that this was a "hit team" sent by IS-K, rather than a sleeper cell of residents.

Why did they target Russia?

There are several reasons.

IS-K consider most of the world to be their enemies. Russia is high up on their list, along with the US, Europe, Israel, Jews, Christians, Shia Muslims, the Taliban and all rulers of Muslim-majority states, who they consider to be "apostates".

Islamic State's hostility to Russia goes back to the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Moscow's forces devastated the Chechen capital Grozny.

More recently, Russia entered the Syrian civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, and the Russian air force has carried out countless bombings of rebel and civilian positions, killing large numbers of Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

In Afghanistan, IS-K view Russia as being an ally of the Taliban, which is why they attacked the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022.

They also bear a grudge for the 10 years of brutal Soviet occupation of that country from 1979-89.

Then there is the situation inside Russia itself.

Russia is viewed by IS-K as very much a Christian country and their video posted after the Moscow attack talks about killing Christians.

Tajik and other Central Asian migrant workers are sometimes subject to a degree of harassment and suspicion by the FSB as it seeks to head off terrorist attacks.

Finally, Russia - a nation currently distracted by its full-scale war with its neighbour Ukraine - may simply have been a convenient target of opportunity for IS-K, a place where weapons were available and their enemy's guard was down.

What do we still not know about the Moscow attack?

There remain a number of unanswered questions about this whole episode.

For example, why were the attackers able to wander at will for nearly an hour around the Crocus Hall with absolutely no apparent sense of urgency?

In a country where the police and special services, notably the FSB, are omnipresent, these gunmen behaved as if they knew they were not going to be interrupted by a police SWAT team.

Then there are the weapons - not just handguns but powerful, modern automatic assault rifles. How were they able to acquire these and smuggle them undetected into the venue?

Their swift capture is also surprising.

Unlike many jihadist gunmen on a raid like this, these men were not wearing suicide vests or belts, in the manner of those who prefer death to capture.

And yet, it did not take long for the Russian authorities - the same Russian authorities who failed to stop the worst terror plot in 20 years unfolding beneath their noses - to round up the suspects and put them on trial.

All this is prompting some analysts to speculate about some sort of so-called "inside job" by the Kremlin, or a "false flag operation" to garner popular support for the war on Ukraine.

However, there is no hard evidence to support that theory and US intelligence has confirmed that in their view, it was Islamic State behind this hideous attack.

[beardedmrbean]

A Colorado teenager has been charged with providing material support to ISIS, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Acting on a tip from a social media company, the FBI encountered Humzah Mashkoor when he was 16 years old, and just under a year later, they arrested him for allegedly attempting to board a flight in Denver to join ISIS, the Justice Department said in its criminal complaint.

Undercover FBI agents soon began communicating with Mashkoor, who used the social media name “Humzah Afghan,” the complaint said.

“Mashkoor frequently expressed support for ISIS,” the complaint reads. In one instance, he shared videos online of people getting executed, the department claimed in the court filing.

He allegedly told the undercover officer he was born in the United States, went to Afghanistan and then came back to the U.S. after his family had to leave.

“He indicated a desire to return to Afghanistan, where he has family in Nangarhar and other areas under Taliban control. Mashkoor stated that he previously supported the Taliban but started ‘looking more into’ ‘the dawlah’ after they ‘b0mbed the airport and took those Taliban and us soldiers and sent them to jahanam,’” the complaint says.

Authorities said they took his statements to mean he supported ISIS after the bombing of Kabul Airport in 2021.

“Are you ready?” he allegedly wrote to an undercover FBI agent regarding his planned return to Afghanistan. “Once we go there’s no turning back… We leave behind everything… Our family’s… Our homes… Our friends… For the sake of Allah. … Life won’t be easy, we will be strangers moving from place to place… Hated by the whole worlds.”

In the fall of 2022, Mashkoor also allegedly told undercover officers he would do anything ISIS told him to do.

“I am prepared to do anything which they require me to do . . . I just want to be used as soon as possible, gun attcks … I have no training, I used to have some practice with guns with I was younger. But that is it,” Mashkoor allegedly said.

Also, according to the complaint, in October 2022, he allegedly took the oath to join ISIS.

The Justice Department alleges that throughout 2023, and leading up to his 18th birthday, Mashkoor made statements about traveling to join ISIS. He allegedly discussed marrying someone who shared the same beliefs.

He planned to donate “all of his money” to ISIS in cryptocurrency before he turned 18.

He was scheduled to travel on Dec. 11, but instead, he postponed his travel to Dec. 18, which is when he was arrested.

ABC News could not immediately locate a legal representative for Mashkoor, and no lawyer was listed in the court record.

#nunyas news