Russians study Islamic video threatening Olympics

In this image made from a video posted online Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014 by an Islamic militant group asserting responsibility for suicide bombings last month that killed 34 people in Volgograd, Russia, two men, identified as Suleiman and Abdurakhman and who purportedly carried out the twin suicide bombings are seen at an unknown location. AP

MOSCOW — Russia’s counter-terrorism agency says it’s studying a video posted by an Islamic militant group that asserted responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 34 people last month and is threatening to strike the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Security experts say the Russians are right in taking the threat seriously.

The video was posted online Sunday by a militant group in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus. The Olympic host city of Sochi lies only 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of Dagestan.

Two Russian-speaking men featured in the video are identified as members of Ansar al-Sunna, the name of a Jihadist group operating in Iraq. It was unclear whether the men in the video had received funding or training from that group or only adopted its name.

There was no confirmation the two men were the suicide bombers who struck the southern Russian city of Volgograd last month as the video claims. Scores of people were also injured by the bombings of a train station and a bus.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Monday it was studying the video and would have no immediate comment. The video couldn’t be viewed in Russia, where Internet providers cut access to it under a law that bans the “dissemination of extremist materials.”

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman Monday said the U.S. has offered support to the Russian government as it conducts security preparations for the Winter Olympics. Rear Adm. John Kirby said the U.S. will offer air and naval support, including two Navy ships in the Black Sea, to be available if requested “for all manner of contingencies,” in consultation with the Russian government.

The video was released by the Vilayat Dagestan, one of the units that make up the so-called Caucasus Emirate, an umbrella group for the rebels seeking to establish an independent Islamic state in the North Caucasus.