145 injured and 60 killed in attack on concert hall in Russia; Islamic State group took responsibility
Some Russian news reports suggest more victims may be trapped in the fire that started after the attackers threw explosives145 injured and 60 killed in attack on concert hall in Russia; Islamic State group took responsibility
A massive fire is seen at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow on March 22, 2024. Photo: Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP
145 injured and 60 killed in attack on concert hall in Russia; Islamic State group took responsibility
On March 22, attackers stormed a large Moscow concert hall and opened fire into the crowd, killing more than 60 people, injuring more than 100 and threatening President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to consolidate his grip on power. A few days later the venue was set on fire in a brazen attack. A highly orchestrated electoral landslide.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A US intelligence official told the AP that US intelligence agencies had learned that the group’s branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and had shared the information with Russian officials.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which was being investigated by state investigators as terrorism.
The attack, which set the concert hall on fire and caused the roof to collapse, was the deadliest attack in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine stretched into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “great tragedy”.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin was informed minutes after the attackers entered the Crocus City Hall, a large music venue on the western edge of Moscow that can seat 6,200 people.
The attack occurred as a crowd had gathered for a performance by Russian rock band Picnic. The state’s top criminal investigation agency, the Investigation Committee, reported early Saturday that more than 60 people were killed. Health officials released a list of 145 injured – 115 of them hospitalized, including five children.
Some Russian news reports have suggested that more victims may have been trapped in the fire that started after the attackers threw explosives.
Smoke rises above the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue after a shooting incident outside Moscow on March 22, 2024. Photo courtesy: Reuters
The video shows the building on fire, and a large cloud of smoke rising into the night sky. The street was illuminated with the flashing blue lights of dozens of firetrucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, as firefighting helicopters hovered overhead to throw water on the blaze, which took hours to bring under control.
The prosecutor’s office said several men in combat uniform entered the concert hall and fired at concertgoers.
Dave Primeau, who was in the hall during the attack, described panic and chaos when the attack began.
“The bullets started flying,” Mr. Primov told the AP. “We all got up and tried to move towards the corridor. People started panicking, running and bumping into each other. Some fell and others trampled them.”
Videos posted on Russian media channels and messaging apps showed people shooting screaming people with assault rifles at close range. A video showed a man in the auditorium saying the attackers had opened fire and that there were continuous gunshots.
Russian media reported that guards at the concert hall did not have guns and that some may have been killed at the beginning of the attack. Some Russian news outlets suggested that the attackers fled before special forces and riot police arrived. Reports said police patrols were searching for several vehicles that the attackers could have used to escape.
In a statement posted by its Amaq news agency, the Islamic State group said it attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim.
However, US intelligence officials confirmed the Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State group’s claim that it was responsible for the Moscow attack, a US official told the AP.
The official said US intelligence agencies have gathered information in recent weeks that an IS branch was planning an attack in Moscow. He said US officials had privately shared intelligence with Russian officials earlier this month. The official was briefed on the matter, but was not authorized to publicly discuss intelligence and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Noting that IS’s statement framed its claim as an attack targeting Christians, Ayman Jawad al-Tamimi, an expert on the terror group, said it came as part of the group’s “global fight against the infidels”. also reflects the strategy of attacking whenever possible” and apostates everywhere.”
In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS brought down a Russian passenger airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were Russian holidaymakers returning from Egypt. The group, which mainly operates in Afghanistan and Africa in addition to Syria and Iraq, also claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions