ISTANBUL, June 18. /TASS/. Turkish special services warned their Russian counterparts and helped them foil a second terrorist act following the attack on the Crocus City Hall, the Turkish pro-government newspaper Hurriyet reported.
"Following the first attack on the concert hall, the terrorist group planned to commit another act of terror as they were plotting to attack a crowded shopping mall. Turkish intelligence thwarted this second major terrorist attack by reaching out to Moscow," columnist Hande Firat wrote.
The attack was being prepared by members of Wilayat Khorasan, which has links to the Islamic State terrorist organization which is outlawed in Russia, the newspaper said. According to Hurriyet, Turkish intelligence officers had long been tracking the activity of a local Wilayat Khorasan cell which they said was behind the attack on a Catholic church in Istanbul in late January. The special services contacted and interrogated a number of people before making contact with the Russian side.
Two of the attackers on the Moscow concert venue had visited Turkey shortly before the attack, of which Russian law enforcement agencies were also informed.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the latest data, 144 people were killed and 551 suffered injuries. Four direct perpetrators have been arrested in the case of the terrorist attack, with another five people being their accomplices. The Russian Investigative Committee said that investigators had found evidence of the attackers’ connection to Ukrainian nationalists. The probe showed that work to organize and sponsor the crime, the attack itself and the retreat of the terrorists had been coordinated through members of Wilayat Khorasan.