ALMATY, June 3./TASS/. The Crocus City Hall terrorist attack made it clear that the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) need to work harder to devise new instruments to fight terrorism, CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov told a meeting of the security bloc’s Parliamentary Assembly.

"All of us here were grief-stricken when we learned the news about the callous attack by terrorists on civilians in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow in March of this year. All CSTO member states strongly condemned the terrorist attack," he said. "This brazen and large-scale crime sets before all CSTO member states the task of developing relevant tools to counter the terrorist threat in the Organization's zone of responsibility," he said.

According to the CSTO chief, the special services were quick to react, detaining the suspects within a few hours after the crime. He emphasized that the Belarusian special services actively assisted their Russian counterparts in order to prevent the terrorists responsible for the attack from fleeing the country.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan, the main center of instability, a source of cross-border challenges and threats in Central Asia, remains in the focus of the organization's attention, Tasmagambetov pointed out. "The organization continues to monitor the challenges and threats associated with the ‘Afghan hub’ and coordinate efforts to counter them using the capabilities of the working group on Afghanistan under the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers," he stressed. "It is necessary to note the growing interest in the work of the working group on Afghanistan from specialized structures of the UN, CIS, SCO and other international organizations," the official said.

According to him, thanks to the political will of the organization's member states, the final stage of approval of the draft CSTO targeted interstate program on strengthening the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border has been passed. "This includes specific measures aimed at ensuring the security of the southern part of the organization’s zone of responsibility. We expect that it will be adopted at the next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, which will be held at the end of this year," the secretary general stated.

On the evening of March 22, four terrorists attacked the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just outside the Moscow city limits. The death toll is 144 and 551 more people were injured, according to the latest data. Later that day, the four gunmen - Dalerzhon Mirzoev, Saidakram Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Faizov - were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to flee to Ukraine across the nearby border. Later, six individuals suspected of being complicit in the attack - brothers Aminchon and Dilovar Islomov and their father Isroil Islomov, as well as Alisher Kasimov, Lutfullo Nazrimada and Yakubzhoni Yusufzoda - were detained and placed under arrest. The investigators said that all of them knew about the planned terrorist attack and helped the gunmen.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that it had established the connection between the suspected terrorists and Ukrainian nationalists.