Attacks on Police in Russia’s Astrakhan Wrongly Attributed to Daesh

Daesh was wrongly reported on Thursday as claiming attacks on Russian police and security forces in Astrakhan, after a mix-up involving an Islamist news agency.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, a group identified as Islamic radicals by Astrakhan authorities killed two traffic policemen in the southern Russian city. Three Russian Guards were wounded in Astrakhan overnight, while four assailants were killed.

The Amaq news agency, an outlet linked to Daesh, reported the deaths of police officers and the attack on servicemen, leading SITE Intelligence Group, a non-profit tracking extremist organizations, to assume the group had taken responsibility for both attacks. SITE’s take on the event was then picked up by other media.