Authorities in Azerbaijan have arrested three men for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a foreign embassy in Baku on the instructions of ISIS.
The State Security Service said on Tuesday that the three suspects had conspired with members of ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of ISIS, to plan the attack.
The statement did not name the foreign embassy. It said the three men were detained as they approached the embassy building to attack it. One of the suspects was born in 2000 and the other two in 2005, it added.
Azerbaijani authorities said the suspects had been arrested on charges of “plotting for terrorism” on the grounds of religious hostility. They said an investigation was continuing.
ISIS-K is an offshoot of the extremist group that originated in Afghanistan and is named after the historical region of Khorasan that takes in parts of Central and South Asia. It has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by governments around the world.
The group has claimed responsibility for the deadly 2024 Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow. Gunmen stormed a concert hall in the Russian capital and opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 137 people, including three children.
A number of ISIS-linked plots have been foiled in the majority-Muslim regions of Russia, where the group is listed as a banned terrorist organisation, and in Central Asia.
Azerbaijan, a South Caucasus country bordering Russia and Iran, is secular and its population of about 10 million people is predominantly Muslim.
Global concern is rising over a resurgence of ISIS and its affiliates. The US has launched strikes on suspects in Syria, as well as in Nigeria. At the end of last year, Turkey carried out raids on ISIS targets across the country.
