Moscow: The US Embassy in Russia warned on Friday that extremists have imminent plans to launch an attack in Moscow, hours after Russian security services announced that they had thwarted a planned shooting attack on a Jewish synagogue by an Afghan ISIS cell.
The embassy, which has repeatedly urged all American citizens to leave Russia, did not provide further details about the nature of the threat, but said people should avoid concerts and crowds and be aware of their surroundings.
Americans in Moscow have been told to avoid concerts and crowded areas amid warnings of an imminent terror attack. credit: AP
“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts, and American citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings for the next 48 hours,” the embassy said on its website.
It issued its warning several hours after the Russian Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB in the Soviet era, announced that it had thwarted an attack on a Jewish synagogue in Moscow carried out by a cell affiliated with the extremist Sunni organization ISIS.
It was not clear whether the two statements were related.
download
The war in Ukraine sparked the deepest crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. The Kremlin accuses the United States of fighting against Russia by supporting Ukraine with money, weapons and intelligence.
The Federal Security Service said that an ISIS cell was operating in Russia's Kaluga region as part of the Afghan arm of the group known as ISIS Khorasan and seeking to establish a caliphate in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
The group first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and gained a reputation for extreme brutality.
