Terror Investigations
Dozens dead after attack in Moscow
After the attack on an event hall in the Moscow region, the Russian domestic secret service FSB confirmed deaths and injuries, according to the Interfax agency. photo
© Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency/AP/dpa
Shots, explosions and fire: unknown people attacked an event hall northwest of Moscow. The domestic secret service confirms 40 deaths. Authorities are investigating suspected terrorism.
In an attack on an event hall in the region According to the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB, gunmen in Moscow killed 40 people. According to initial findings, more than 100 people were injured in the Crocus City Hall in the city of Krasnagorsk, the authority was quoted by the Interfax agency.
Russia’s Central Investigative Committee opened a case into a suspected “act of terrorism.” The authority announced this in the Telegram messaging service.
According to authorities, further explosions were reported after shots and a fire in the event hall. Unidentified people wearing camouflage clothing stormed the Crocus City Hall shortly before the start of a concert and opened fire, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said. The background to the incident was initially unclear. According to Russian media, the victims are said to be both employees and visitors to the concert hall.
Blazing flames and a huge cloud of smoke could be seen on the famous building. The roof is said to have collapsed. The situation was confusing. According to authorities, dozens of ambulances and many buses were deployed to bring people to safety. There are thousands of seats in the auditoriums.
Western embassies had recently warned of terrorist attacks in Moscow. The Kremlin described this as a provocation by the West.
Putin is informed
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the suspected terrorist attack “from the first minute.” Putin constantly receives all important information about what is happening and the measures taken via the relevant services, says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
The head of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, threatened the masterminds of the attack with retaliation. “Those behind this terrible crime will receive the deserved and inevitable punishment,” she writes on her Telegram channel. At the same time, she announced, the state would do everything it could to help those left behind. The government also announced help.
USA: No evidence of connection in Ukraine
Shortly after the attack became known, there were initial reactions from abroad. When asked, the White House said there was currently no evidence of a connection to Ukraine. “There is no evidence that Ukraine or Ukrainians had anything to do with the shooting,” US National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington.
Not much can be said about the details yet, but at this early stage we strongly advise against the assumption that there is a connection to Ukraine. “The images are simply terrible,” Kirby also emphasized, saying that his thoughts were with the victims and their families. The US State Department is advising local American citizens to avoid large gatherings of people.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin canceled all sporting, cultural and other events for the weekend in the evening. He asked for your understanding of the measure, he wrote in his Telegram channel.