Moscow concert hall attack: Death toll rises to 93, 11 people detained
- Gunmen attacked Moscow’s Crocus City Hall – Russian intelligence.
- The death toll in the attack has increased to 93, while more than 100 people have been injured.
- The building caught fire and a part of the roof near the theater collapsed.
- According to officials the fire has been brought under control.
- Islamic State says that the attackers have escaped.
- America said that it had warned Russia about the attack.
- Ukraine has denied any involvement in the attack.
- An incident of firing took place on Friday night in a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, the capital of Russia.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the death toll in the attack has increased to 93, while more than 100 are injured. Children are also included among those who died.
The Russian Foreign Minister has called it a terrorist attack. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the attack.
Russian News Service editor Steve Rosenberg has said that this is the biggest attack on Russia in the last two decades.
Russian officials said that they did not have much information about who the attackers were and where they came from. There are also indications that the attackers have escaped and the police is busy searching for them.
At midnight, the Russian Presidential Office issued a statement on its official Telegram channel saying that President Vladimir Putin is being constantly informed about the attack and the steps taken by security agencies.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Putin has given orders to all departments related to the matter.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the people killed in the attack in Moscow.
He tweeted, “We strongly condemn the heinous extremist attack in Moscow. Our prayers are with the families of the victims. “India stands with the Russian government and its people in this hour of grief.”
Who is responsible for the attack?
A faction of the extremist organization Islamic State (IS) has taken responsibility for the attack.
IS says that the gunmen who attacked have fled from here.
America has said that there is no reason not to believe this claim of Islamic State.
The White House has confirmed that it had informed Russian authorities in early March that there could be an attack on a ‘large crowd’ in Moscow.
Russia has not yet responded to this.
America had warned earlier
US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said, “Earlier this month, the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow, in which heavily crowded places such as concerts were the targets.”
He said that Washington had shared the information with Russian authorities.
Security correspondent Gordon Correra has said that the Kremlin had dismissed these warnings as ‘propaganda’.
US officials have told CBS, the BBC’s affiliate in the US, that they had received intelligence that IS could carry out an attack in Russia.
The American White House has said that it is trying to get more information about the situation.
Where did the attack happen?
The BBC has examined the video related to the incident, which has revealed that the attack took place at the Crocus City Hall retail and concert complex in Krasnogorsk, a city northwest of Moscow.
A concert by a Russian rock group named Picnic was to be organized here. Just before the concert started, four gunmen dressed in camouflage started firing bullets at the attendees.
More than six thousand people were present in the hall during the attack. An eyewitness told that the attack took place before the rock group was about to come on stage.
During this time the building caught fire and a part of its roof also collapsed.
Russian National Guards have said that their special squads have reached the Crocus City Hall and are trying to capture the attackers. At the same time, top Russian officials are also reaching here.
What happened?
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A security guard has said that armed attackers came to the back part of the audience seating area and started firing. Meanwhile, other attackers were firing bullets near the door in the center of the hall.
This security guard told the Russian Telegram channel Baza, “There were three other security guards there and they hid behind the advertising panels. These attackers passed at a distance of 10 meters from us and they were present on the ground floor. They were firing bullets towards people.”
A woman present inside the hall said that as soon as people realized that bullets were being fired here, they started running towards the stage. “I saw a man standing near the stall, there were shots being fired. I was near the loudspeaker and crawling on the ground,” she told Russian television.
During the attack, the building caught fire due to which a cloud of smoke started rising. The front part of the building started burning and the glass on the top two floors broke due to the explosion.
According to Russian officials the fire has been brought under control.