Islamic State group behind Moscow attack sought recruits in Britain
The Islamic State group behind the attack on the Crocus music venue near Moscow has also sought recruits in Britain, it can be disclosed.
Through its Amaq news agency, the group claimed responsibility for last Friday’s shooting massacre at the concert hall that killed at least 139 people.
American intelligence sources pointed to ISIS-K, or Islamic State Khorasan Province, as the most likely branch responsible.
Russia-Ukraine latest: Moscow suggests UK-US involvement in terror attack
The offshoot group was formed in eastern Afghanistan in January 2015, when tribes formerly associated with the Taliban declared allegiance to Islamic State at a time when the Syria-based group was at the peak of its powers.
Islamic State remains the group of choice for jihadists in the West but Syria is increasingly difficult to access and, instead, a number of recruits in Britain have tried to get to Afghanistan.
Last November, two brothers were jailed after filling out online application forms to join ISIS-K after making homemade videos in which they role-played being suicide bombers.
Haleem Heyder Khan, 21, and his brother, Hamzah Heyder Khan, 18, both from Ward End, Birmingham, had researched how they could travel to Turkey and Iraq before deciding it was too difficult and switching their attention to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The brothers used Instagram to get in touch with an Islamic State recruiter who sent them forms to fill out in Arabic and a code to access messages on the encrypted WhatsApp messaging service.
Haleem Heyder Khan (left) and his brother Hamzah Heyder Khan were jailed last November for filling out application forms to join ISIS-K. Pic: Counter Terrorism Policing
They purchased and packed clothing and equipment, conducted research into how they could travel to Afghanistan and obtained travel documents for Pakistan.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne, head of Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, warned at the time that the two brothers were intent on becoming martyrs and could have been “redeployed back to the UK”.
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The ISIS-K recruitment form. Pic: Counter Terrorism Policing
Mother charged with trying to radicalise her children
A mother of two from the Midlands has also been arrested and charged with trying to radicalise her children and join the group in an echo of the journeys by families to Syria.
It is said she established online communication with the group to obtain official approval to travel to Afghanistan.
Intelligence agencies concerned group has wider ambitions
MI5 has been concerned by the “ungoverned spaces” in Afghanistan since the collapse of the Western-backed regime in August 2021.
ISIS-K has launched a series of attacks in Afghanistan and has claimed responsibility for attacks across the border in Iran.
Although most of their attacks have been inside Afghanistan, Western intelligence agencies are aware they have wider ambitions.
During the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan, ISIS-K launched a suicide bomb and gun attack on the queues outside Kabul’s international airport that killed 13 US troops and 170 Afghans.
In January, the Voice of Khorasan, an English-language online magazine linked to ISIS-K, called Britain the “United Kingdom of Kafir”, a term used to refer to non-believers, and drew attention to the country’s role in the Middle East, dating back to the Medieval crusades.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Pic: Reuters
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.
Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
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