Azerbaijani security forces arrested three suspects planning an attack on a foreign embassy in the capital, Baku, at the instructions of an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State, authorities announced on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani’s State Security Service identified the suspects, whom it said were citizens in their 20s, as Guliyev Ilgar Ilham Oglu, nicknamed “Abu Zar al-Muhajir;" Piriyev Amin Elshad Oglu, nicknamed “Abdurashid;" and Alizade Elvin Sanan Oglu, nicknamed “Abdurrahman al-Azeri.”
The three conspired with fellow terrorists of Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) to obtain weapons with which they planned to attack an embassy, the agency stated.
The statement did not identify the diplomatic mission the terrorists had sought to target, but said they did so “on the basis of religious hostility.”
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the 2024 Crocus City Hall terror attack, which killed some 150 people and injured more than 600 in a Moscow suburb.
Last year, an Azerbaijani court sentenced a man affiliated with the ISIS offshoot to 13 years in prison on terror charges for plotting to attack a Baku synagogue with a Molotov cocktail in December 2024.
The news of the arrest came after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Monday, where he called the Muslim leader a “visionary” with “impressive achievements.”
Jerusalem’s top diplomat described Azerbaijan as “a model of tolerance and moderation,” emphasizing that it has “always been—and continues to be—a safe place for the tens of thousands of Jews that live here.”
He also mentioned Azerbaijan’s southern neighbor, Iran, saying that the Islamic Republic carried out a “massacre” against citizens protesting for freedom and warning it must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons.
