Structure linked to Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for St. Petersburg terror attack

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. 3 weeks later after the terror attack in the St. Petersburg metro, Katiba Al Imam Shamil group connected to Al-Qaedaclaimed responsibility for the attack.

The statement of Katiba Al Imam Shamil group was released by various media outlets, firstly it appeared in al-Andalusi, then in Agence Nouakchott Info. Meanwhile, Al-Qaedaissues statements on terror attacks committed in the Western countries, including Russia through Al-Sahab media.

As for major violent terror attacks (St. Petersburg terror attack was among them), Al-Qaedamust have immediately issued a statement and everywhere. However, this didn’t happen, moreover, the statement dates April 18. In other words, the statement was prepared 15 days later after the terror attack and was issued a week later. Given Al-Qaeda’s operative work, the abovementioned creates much more questions.

Katiba Al Imam Shamil structure is unknown to experts, and it is not ruled out that, as some Islamic extremist circles state, ‘if there is no one who will claim a responsibility for the terror attack, a Katiba Al Imam Shamil structure can be established that will assume responsibility for the abovementioned violent terrorist act’.

The ongoing realities in the Islamic extremist domain suggest us that claiming the responsibility for the terror attack became formal, and today we deal with individuals rather than structures who decide themselves and carry out such violent acts. These terrorists are linked with heads of Islamic extremist structures, they are not guided in the actions.

Expert on Arabic studies Sargis Grigoryan