The incident 'caught security forces completely off guard,' Lucas Webber, a research fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, told Business Insider - despite the fact that it would have required 'quite a bit of planning and preparation beforehand.'
The attacks also illustrated 'the diverse range of militant actors Russia has angered through its domestic and foreign policy actions,' he added.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that the Islamic State's (IS) Northern Caucasus branch, Wilayat Kavkaz, was likely behind the attacks, noting that they had 'increased fears within the Russian information space about further terrorist attacks and instability in the North Caucasus.'
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