Several attackers open fire in a concert hall in Russia. There is a letter of responsibility from the IS terrorist militia, but the exact background is unclear. The death toll is rising.
Eleven suspects were arrested after the attack on a concert hall near Moscow. At least four of them are said to have been directly involved in the attack on the event center, as FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
The number of deaths in the attack has now risen to at least 115, including at least 3 children. When clearing away the rubble in the center’s concert hall, emergency services found more bodies, the Moscow Investigative Committee said on Telegram. The authorities also estimated that more than 100 people were injured. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, 44 are seriously injured.
Gunmen in camouflage uniforms
In the large concert hall of the Crocus City Hall with thousands of seats, several perpetrators apparently shot randomly at visitors on Friday evening. People who ran for their lives and those injured reported many casualties on social networks. Individual dead or injured people could also be seen lying on the ground.
According to eyewitness reports on social media, many visitors took a long time to get out of the building. Investigators later found weapons and a lot of ammunition. Authorities collected empty cartridge cases by the bagful. There were also explosions in the building and a major fire.
The background to the attack was initially unclear; the Russian security authorities were investigating terrorism. The terrorist militia Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, as the IS mouthpiece Amak reported on the Internet, citing unnamed sources.
It said: “Islamic State militants attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds and causing widespread destruction.” Experts assumed that this letter of confession was genuine. However, there was no official assessment of this from the Russian side.
It was also unclear how the men in camouflage uniforms and heavily armed were able to get into the concert hall. The Russian capital Moscow is considered a safe city with a large number of security forces, surveillance cameras and metal detectors in many places. However, the secret services of the USA and other Western countries warned of an impending attack at the beginning of March.
President Vladimir Putin dismissed this as a Western provocation. The aim of such warnings from the West is to destabilize the situation in Russia, he said in a speech at the FSB earlier this week. There was initially no statement from him on Saturday either.
First arrests after chase
Regarding the first arrests, Russian MP Alexander Chinstein said that a suspected getaway vehicle with weapons inside was stopped in the Bryansk region on Friday evening. Other suspects are being searched in a forest.
The vehicle failed to stop during a police chase, was shot at and then overturned. “One terrorist was arrested on the spot, the others hid in the forest,” said Chinstein. A second suspect was arrested early in the morning.
A pistol, a cartridge magazine and a Kalashnikov as well as passports of citizens of the Central Asian Republic of Tajikistan were found inside the vehicle. A little later, the domestic secret service announced that a total of eleven suspects had been arrested.
The morning after
Meanwhile, the situation at Crocus City Hall was quiet in the morning. Emergency services extinguished embers after the major fire, as the fire department announced. After the fire has been completely extinguished, the rubble from the collapsed roof of the concert hall should be removed. The police, national guard and investigative committee recorded the damage and secured evidence.
The Crocus City Hall in the northwest of the Russian capital is one of the most popular event centers in the metropolis. Trade fairs and exhibitions are also regularly organized there.
In general, there was an increased police presence in downtown Moscow; even several kilometers from the site of the attack, numerous police vans could be seen and checks were carried out. Hundreds of people responded to health authorities’ calls to donate blood for the injured.
Putin wishes you a speedy recovery
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the events “from the first minute.” According to the Interfax agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he constantly receives all important information about what is happening and the measures taken via the relevant services. Putin later wished the injured a speedy recovery and thanked the doctors for their efforts.
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 wrote on her Telegram channel. At the same time, she announced, the state would do everything it could to help those left behind.
Ukraine denies any involvement
After the attack, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rejected suspicions that Kiev was involved. In an initial reaction, the USA also warned not to establish any connection with 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 so far, but at this early stage we strongly advise against the assumption that there is a connection to Ukraine. The US State Department recommended that American citizens avoid large gatherings of people.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted angrily to this statement from Washington. It was premature for the USA to exonerate Ukraine, she said on Russian television. “If the United States or any other country has reliable facts, they should provide them to the Russian side.” If there were no such facts, neither the White House nor anyone else would have the right to give advance absolution, Zakharova said.
Scholz condemns the attack
The German government expressed its condolences to the families of the victims and those injured. “We condemn the terrible terrorist attack on innocent concert-goers in Moscow. Our thoughts are with the relatives of the victims and all those injured,” wrote Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also commented on X: “We condemn the terrible terrorist attack on innocent concert-goers in Moscow. Our thoughts are with the relatives of the victims and all those injured.” Numerous other countries were also shocked and condemned the attack.
The European Union is shocked and horrified, wrote EU Commission spokesman Peter Stano on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The EU condemns any attacks on civilians. “Our thoughts are with all affected Russian citizens.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN Security Council also condemned the attack.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “The United Kingdom strongly condemns the deadly terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow.” The families of the many victims have his deepest condolences. “Nothing can ever justify such terrible violence.”
The Taliban ruling Afghanistan also strongly condemned the attack. A “coordinated, clear and decisive stance” by countries in the region against terror is required, wrote Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Kahar Balchi on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Events are canceled
As a consequence of the attack, all theaters, cinemas and museums in Moscow will remain closed over the weekend, including the world-famous Pushkin Museum. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin had previously said that all major events in Europe’s largest city had been canceled. The authorities also canceled mass events in the Moscow area.
In 2002, Chechen gunmen took control of 850 people in a musical theater. On the fourth day, the domestic secret service stunned the captors and the hostages with a gas. The terrorists were shot. 135 hostages died, most of them due to inadequate medical care.