“According to everything that is known so far, it can be assumed that the terrorist group Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is responsible for the murderous terrorist attack near Moscow,” she told the online edition of Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Saturday.
ISKP is a regional Islamic State branch based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Faeser also said that this group currently poses the greatest Islamist threat in Germany. “The danger from Islamist terrorism remains acute,” she said.
Only last Tuesday, German authorities arrested two suspected members of the Islamic State offshoot in the eastern state of Thuringia. They are suspected of having planned an attack on the Swedish parliament.
The ISKP has been waging an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan for several years.
Recently, there have been several arrests in Germany in connection with the ISKP. The group was linked to a possible plot to attack Cologne Cathedral around the turn of the year.
Faeser condemned the attack in Moscow. “We mourn with the families of the many innocent victims of this cowardly and brutal terrorist attack,” she said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack in the Russian capital, but Russian authorities have so far not commented on that, instead suggesting Ukraine might have been involved, accusations Kiev swiftly denied.