ISIS offensive against Russia

Since the bomb exploded in the St. Petersburg metro it has become clear that Russia is currently facing a concerted terrorist offensive.

Firstly there was the attack on the Rosgvardia base in the Caucasus a short while ago.  Subsequently there was the bomb attack on the St. Petersburg metro, which is now confirmed to have been the work of a suicide bomber.

On the same day another bomb was found in another part of the St. Petersburg metro.

Today comes news of a firefight in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea between the Rosgvardia and a group of four Jihadi terrorists who attacked and killed two policemen at a checkpoint.  All four of the terrorists were killed.

There are also reports of a small bomb going off in the city of Rostov in southern Russia, leaving one person injured.

Lastly, there are reports of a bomb being detected and defused in an apartment building in St. Petersburg.

It is not absolutely certain that all these events are connected or are the work of the same people.  However the high probability must be that they are, and that the organisation behind them is ISIS.

In fact this looks like a planned campaign though one that so far by the standards of ISIS has been less than fully effective because after two decades of combating Jihadi terrorism on their own territory the Russian authorities and the Russian population have become alerted to how it works.

ISIS is however a persistent and ruthless organisation and complacency in the face of the threat it poses is unacceptable.  On the contrary high vigilance is what the situation calls for.