The scene that unfolded on the night of 22 March at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow was one I had witnessed perhaps one hundred times in my career. A squad of gunmen, carrying only AK-47 automatic assault rifles and backpacks filled with extra ammunition, magazines, and explosives, stormed an unguarded public space and randomly started killing everyone they saw. This tactic, known as light infantry, weapons attack, or LIWA, has been the hallmark of terrorism since the 1960s. Virtually every terror group in the world has done this, from the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Al Fatah to the Shining Path guerillas of Peru. However, what made this attack unique was the ideology behind the group and how it ended.
Read the rest of Malcolm Nance’s piece at and subscribe to his Substack
