United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack near Moscow that left more than 130 people dead, stressing ISIS is a significant global threat at a press conference Saturday at El Arish International Airport in Egypt.
Guterres called for intensified international efforts to combat the terrorist organization and prevent future strikes worldwide.
“ISIS is a terrorist organization that is operating in several parts of the world, and it is a very serious threat to us all. We firmly condemn — we consider absolutely intolerable — the attack that took place in Moscow," Guterres said.
"And we encourage all countries to work with each other in order to make sure that ISIS will not have the capacity to strike again anywhere else in the world. ISIS is a terrorist organization that needs to be fought with determination, with a lot of international cooperation," he continued.
More background: The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.
Starting in November, there has been a steady stream of intelligence that ISIS-K was determined to attack in Russia, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence. It was “fairly specific,” and the US intelligence community did indeed warn Russia, one of the sources said. But it’s not clear if this is directly tied to a March 7 warning by the US embassy in Moscow, which said "extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings" in the capital city.
Over the last month, Russia has thwarted several ISIS-related incidents in March alone, according to state media agency RIA Novosti.