On Friday evening, several gunmen wearing camouflage opened fire at a popular concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, killing about 60 people and wounding greater than 100, FSB, Russia’s top security agency he said. That death toll would mark the deadliest attack within the capital region in greater than a decade.
The RIA Novosti news agency reported that when shots rang out within the constructing that housed the concert hall, considered one of the most important and hottest concert halls within the Moscow region, a fire broke out on the upper floors of the constructing and the fireplace intensified after the explosion.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through an affiliated news agency. U.S. security officials, including a senior counterterrorism official, said they believed the attack was carried out by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Islamic State in Khorasan, a branch of a terrorist group operating in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to debate the matter publicly.
Multiple videos posted on social media and reviewed by The New York Times show several people entering Crocus City Hall, a sprawling shopping and entertainment complex on the outskirts of Krasnogorsk, northwest of Moscow, and firing rifles. Other videos show people running past bloody victims lying on the ground or screaming at the sound of gunshots, while photos show bodies lined up outside the constructing.
The woman, who only gave her name when Marina wrote in a text message that she was standing in line for a concert outside within the cold, around 8 p.m., when people without coats began running out of the constructing, claiming they heard gunshots.
“As soon as I heard the shots from the automatic rifle, I also started running,” she said.
State news agency TASS reported that emergency services deployed helicopters to rescue people from the roof of the constructing, where plumes of flames and smoke might be seen rising into the night sky. RIA Novosti reported that a roof near the concert stage collapsed around 10 p.m. local time.
Just a few hours after the riots began, the Russian national guard he said its officers continued to go looking for the attackers and evacuate people from the complex. State media agencies reported that there have been as many as five perpetrators.
According to Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, at least 115 people were hospitalized after the attack on a Moscow concert hall, including five children. The minister announced that among the many injured there have been 60 adult patients in serious condition. Another 30 people were treated and released.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin made no immediate direct public statement, issuing only a statement through Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova during which he expressed hope for the recovery of the injured and gratitude to the doctors treating them.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, akin to the FBI, he said initiated a criminal case regarding a terrorist act and sent its investigators to the positioning. RIA Novosti reported that a special police unit worked within the constructing.
John F. Kirby, a spokesman for President Biden’s National Security Council, told reporters that the White House had “no indication at this time that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved.” Mykhailo Podolak, chief adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a video statement that “Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do” with the attack.
On March 7, the US Embassy in Moscow issued an order Security alarm who warned that his staff was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts.” The statement, which made no mention of extremist affiliation, warned Americans that an attack could occur inside the following 48 hours.
Pro-Kremlin voices have picked up on the US embassy’s warning to portray America as attempting to intimidate Russians. On March 19, Russian President Putin called the statement “obvious blackmail” that was “intended to intimidate and destabilize our society.”
Friday’s attack was linked to a March 7 warning, in line with U.S. officials briefed on the matter. They added that the United States then privately notified Russia of intelligence it had on Islamic State activities.
Expressions of sympathy and outrage have poured in from around the globe, including from the governments of the United States and other countries at odds with Russia. Yulia Navalnaya, widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison last month, said on social media: “All people involved in this crime must be found and brought to justice.”
The attack got here on the day 165 missiles and drones attacked Ukraine, in line with US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink he said was “the largest attack on the Ukrainian energy grid since the beginning of the war in Russia.”
The shooting occurred minutes before the scheduled start of a sold-out performance by veteran rock band Piknik. According to the web site, the concert hall has a capability of 6,200.
“At least three people in camouflage entered the ground floor of the Crocus City Hall and opened fire with automatic weapons” and threw incendiary devices, an RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the scene. “They’re definitely hurt.”
In videos shot contained in the concert hall, audience members might be heard screaming and kneeling, while repeated gunshots echo outside the hall.
Russian emergency services said they sent 130 vehicles and three helicopters to the positioning to drop water on the flames that had consumed the upper floors. By late evening the fireplace appeared to have died down considerably.
In Russia, where the state strictly regulates firearms, shootings are rare. One of the deadliest incidents occurred in 2022, when an attacker killed 18 people and injured 23 at a school in the town of Izhevsk.
If the figures of 60 dead and greater than 100 injured on Friday are correct, the death toll is comparable to that of the suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport in 2011, which killed 37 people, and the 2 coordinated suicide bombings at Moscow metro stations in 2010 r. killed 38.
In 2004, 172 people died within the siege of the Moscow theater by Chechen separatists. Police pumped sedative gas into the theater to incapacitate the attackers, however the gas killed 132 hostages.
The complex where Friday’s attack took place was built by Azerbaijani-born billionaire Aras Agalarov, whose son Emin is a famous pop star. In 2013, former President Donald Trump hosted the Miss Universe pageant at the identical complex, and world-famous performers resembling Eric Clapton, Dua Lipa and Sia also performed there.
Alina Lobzina, Julian E. Barnes AND Neil MacFarquhar reporting contributed.
