CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen is laying the responsibility of one of the deadliest terror attacks in Moscow at President Joe Biden’s feet.
During a segment on CNN’s “AC360,” Bergen stated that it would be embarrassing for Biden if ISIS did attack a Russian concert hall that killed at least 113 civilians.
“That would be very embarrassing for the Biden administration if it turned out that ISIS-K has sort of re-grouped to the extent that they can reach out to other countries [and] carry out major attacks,” he said, citing the Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Bergen admitted that he was skeptical at first about ISIS carrying out the attack. However, he said that Americans and Russians must have had intelligence in their system about ISIS's presence in Moscow.
More from Bergen’s comments:
I was a little skeptical, because, typically, if you’re an ISIS fighter, you don’t care about getting killed at the scene of the crime. You don’t — you’re not looking for a getaway, you’re looking to martyr yourself. So, in this case, it looks like the people did get away, according to the Russians. And that isn’t sort of typical for an ISIS-type attack. So, — however, the fact that it’s not just the Americans who had intelligence in their system about ISIS presence in Moscow, it turns out that the Russians did, too. Otherwise, why would Russian state television report on March 7 about a plan to attack a Moscow synagogue by ISIS? So, I don’t know. It isn’t absolutely typical of their M.O. But, certainly, ISIS has attacked concert venues in the past. In, Paris, you recall in 2015, they killed 130 people, most — many of them were attending a concert. And, obviously, this work could well be — it could be just what it — as this group says. I’m still looking for evidence, and, hopefully, we’ll identify who these people are relatively quickly. Are they Tajiks? Are they Chechens? If they’re part of ISIS. Did they train in Afghanistan? That’s a very big question here. Obviously, that would be very embarrassing for the Biden administration if it turned out that ISIS-K has sort of re-grouped to the extent that they can reach out to other countries [and] carry out major attacks at a time when they’re responsible for the withdrawal from — of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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The death toll has reached at least 113, with Russian officials announcing that they have apprehended 11 suspects, with four of them being directly involved in the attack.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the onslaught. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have been involved.
Zelensky has denied such allegations.
On Saturday, Putin declared March 24 as a day of mourning, adding that additional security measures have been put into place.
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