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Russia detains 11 suspects in Moscow concert hall massacre that killed at least 133; ISIS claims responsibility
Russian President Vladimir Putin says authorities arrested four men suspected of carrying out the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people and believe they were flee…
nypost.com
Russia detains 11 suspects in Moscow concert hall massacre that killed at least 133; ISIS claims responsibility
By
Associated Press
Published March 23, 2024
Updated March 23, 2024, 12:16 p.m. ET
Russian authorities arrested the four men suspected of carrying out the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people and believe they were headed to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday during an address to the nation.
Kyiv, meanwhile, strongly denied any involvement in Friday’s attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, which the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for in a statement posted on social media channels linked to the group. Kyiv accused Putin and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault in order to stoke fervor in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year.
A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. agencies had confirmed that IS was responsible for the assault and had previously warned Moscow that an attack could be imminent.
11 Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. Dave Primov via Storyful
Putin said authorities have detained a total of 11 people in the attack, which also injured scores of concertgoers and left the venue a smoldering ruin. He called it “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and said Russian authorities captured the four suspected gunmen as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a “window” prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.
Putin also said that additional security measures have been imposed throughout Russia, and he declared Sunday a day of mourning.
The attack, the deadliest in Russia in years, is a major embarrassment to the Russian leader and happened just days after he cemented his grip on the country for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since the Soviet times.
Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.
The attack came two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Moscow issued a notice urging Americans to avoid crowded places in view of “imminent” plans by extremists to target large Moscow gatherings, including concerts. The warning was repeated by several other Western embassies.
11 At least 40 people were killed when gunmen opened fire at one of Moscowâs largest music venues. AP
11 The Crocus City Hall was set a blaze after gunmen stormed the concert venue. ZUMAPRESS.com
Investigators on Saturday were combing through the charred wreckage of the hall for more victims, and authorities said the death toll could still rise. Hundreds of people stood in line in Moscow early Saturday to donate blood and plasma, Russia’s health ministry said.
“We faced not just a thoroughly and cynically prepared terror attack, but a well-prepared and organized mass murder of peaceful innocent people,” Putin said.
His claim that the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine followed comments by Russian lawmakers who pointed the finger at Ukraine immediately after the attack. But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied any involvement.
11 Four of those who were detained were directly involved in the attack, authorities said. via REUTERS
11 The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated social media channels, although neither the Kremlin nor Russian security services have officially assigned blame for the attack. ZUMAPRESS.com
11 The attack was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s fight in Ukraine dragged into a third year. ZUMAPRESS.com
“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he posted on X. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Moscow of using the attack to try to stoke fervor for its war efforts.
“We consider such accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, create conditions for increased mobilization of Russian citizens to participate in the criminal aggression against our country, and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community,” the ministry said in a statement.
Images shared by Russian state media Saturday showed emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of Crocus City Hall, which could hold more than 6,000 people and has hosted many big events, including the 2013 Miss Universe beauty pageant that featured Donald Trump and others.
On Friday, crowds had gathered for a concert by the Russian rock band Picnic.
Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. Russian news reports cited authorities and witnesses as saying the attackers threw explosive devices that started the fire, which eventually consumed the building and caused its roof to collapse.
11 In aftermath of the attack, some Russian lawmakers were quick to accuse Ukraine. AP
11 Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry clear rubble at the Crocus City Hall concert venue after a deadly attack. via REUTERS
Dave Primov, who survived the attack, described the chaos to the AP as concertgoers rushed to leave the building: “People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”
Messages of outrage, shock, and support for the victims and their families have streamed in from around the world.
On Friday, the U.N. Security Council condemned “the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and underlined the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack “in the strongest possible terms,” his spokesman said.
IS, which lost much of its ground after Russia’s military action in Syria, has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group’s Aamaq news agency, IS’s Afghanistan affiliate said it had attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk.
11 A special police unit aimed their guns outside the Crocus City Hall in the town of Krasnogorsk after the mass shooting. ZUMAPRESS.com
11 A memorial sign with the message “(We) Mourn” hangs on the facade of a building in Moscow on March 23, 2024, in the aftermath of the shooting. AFP via Getty Images
11 A woman mourns at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall. AFP via Getty Images
In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt.
The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
On March 7, just hours before the U.S. embassy warned about imminent attacks, Russia’s top security agency said it had thwarted an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an IS cell, killing several of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days before that, Russian authorities said six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia, in Russia’s Caucasus region.