ISIS sleeper cell
© Chris Tomson/AMNISIS sleeper cell
Russian Interior Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov said that the transfer of local combatants from the Pakistani-based Daesh [ISIS] to Tajikistan may be linked to the preparation of a provocation against Russia.

Daesh fighters are being transferred on unidentified airplanes from Pakistan to the border of Tajikistan, near the southern Russian border, said Interior Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov.

According to Zubov, it could be the preparation of a massive provocation that could affect Russia.
"Daesh fighters are being mass-transported on unidentified aircraft from the territory of Pakistan to the border of Tajikistan. It seems that massive provocations are being planned with the future expulsion of large numbers of refugees and with all the consequences for Russia."
Earlier, the director of the Commonwealth of Independent States Counterterrorism Center Andrei Novikov stated that Daesh terrorists had been transferred to Afghanistan and Pakistan after being defeated in Syria and Iraq.

Last year, Syrian state media reported that US-led international coalition helicopters evacuated Daesh leaders from different areas of Deir ez-Zor province. The coalition, in turn, denied all charges.

The US has helped 40 ISIS commanders escape from a Taliban prison in Badghis, in northwestern Afghanistan, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported two days ago. The 40 inmates, all foreigners, were taken by helicopter to an unspecified location after US troops attacked the prison and killed all security guards two weeks ago.

The agency, which plans to disclose more details of this operation soon, said the deputy head of the Badghis provincial council, Abdullah Afzali, confirmed the facts.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, intensified its operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2015, countries that it aspires to include in a province of its "caliphate", the so-called Wilayat Khorasan (or ISIS-K, for its acronym in English) .

In Afghanistan, which consists of 34 provinces, the presence of ISIS is centered in areas close to Pakistan, although jihadists also seek to establish themselves in the northern regions bordering the nations of Central Asia.
About the Author:
Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.