DEATH TOLL FROM MOSCOW CONCERT HALL ATTACK RISES TO 133

Sat 23 March 2024:

The ISIS-K (ISIL) group has claimed responsibility for a brazen attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall that killed at least 133 people and injured more than 100.

The total number of those killed at the site of the attack in Crocus City Hall has increased to 133 people, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee. “Search operations continue,” it said in a Telegram post.

Governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, has said after a visit to Crocus City Hall that “the situation there is extremely difficult”.

“As for the dead, I must say right away that the number of victims will grow significantly. Today at 6:30am, rescuers entered the hall where the most terrible events took place,” he told local reporters.

Meanwhile, all public events and gatherings in Moscow have been cancelled this weekend due to security concerns. Moscow’s four main airports have also been put on the highest alert.

WATCH | Shooting at Moscow concert hall kills at least 40, wounds more than 100

The attackers reportedly used explosives as well, setting off a big fire at the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow on Friday, according to Russian news reports.

Several of the… pic.twitter.com/tY0Xtx9TYQ

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 22, 2024

Russian security service says 11 detained: Report

Russia’s FSB security service has told Putin that 11 people had been detained following Friday’s deadly attack near Moscow, including four people directly involved, Interfax cited the Kremlin as saying.

Further work was under way to identify more accomplices, Interfax quoted the Kremlin as saying.

Russian Investigative Committee has released footage of its officers inspecting weapons found at Crocus City Hall following the mass shooting.

Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state-controlled RT news outlet, has reported the death toll from the Moscow attack as reaching… pic.twitter.com/R6Oe4TO03z

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 23, 2024

Putin wishes victims speedy recovery

Russian President Vladimir Putin is being updated by security chiefs about the situation, including from Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Kremlin said.

Putin wished a speedy recovery to the wounded victims and conveyed his thanks to doctors, Russia’s deputy prime minister Tatyana Golikova was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies after meeting with him.

Putin has yet to comment publicly on the attack.

Photos: First images from inside burnt Crocus City Hall pic.twitter.com/08dyFHog66

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 23, 2024

Russian lawmaker threatens battlefield response if Ukraine linked to Moscow attack

Andrei Kartapolov, a lawmaker and former general, has said Russia should retaliate on the battlefield if Ukraine is involved in the Moscow attack, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

ISIL offshoot ISIS-K, which previously attacked the Russian embassy in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, has claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim that US government officials say is credible.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said four of the attack suspects had been trying to reach Ukraine and had “contacts” in the country.

Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, earlier said “Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with these events”.

Russian media chief publishes unconfirmed video of suspect’s interrogation

Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state-controlled RT news outlet, has published a three-minute video on Telegram that purportedly shows one of the Moscow attack suspects being interrogated.

The… pic.twitter.com/iq32WdCfWT

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 23, 2024

Russia’s FSB accuses concert attack suspects of having Ukraine ties

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said the perpetrators of the attack on Moscow’s concert hall were en route to the border with Ukraine when they were apprehended, reports Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The suspects “had contacts” within Ukraine, the FSB added, according to Interfax.

Ukraine’s presidential advisor, reacting to the Moscow attack, earlier said “Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with these events”.

Photos: First images from inside burnt Crocus City Hall pic.twitter.com/yET9nVFdJS

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 23, 2024

Moscow concert attackers escaped in white Renault car: Report

The gunmen who carried out the attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall fled the scene in a white Renault car, reports Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, which published a photo of the vehicle.

The Russian Investigative Committee said it is working with investigators, criminologists, and specialised units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct on-the-scene investigations. It said they had confiscated weapons and ammunition from the scene and were studying security camera footage.

Putin echoes claims linking Moscow attack to Ukraine

Putin, in his national address, has confirmed that Russia had arrested all those responsible for the Moscow concert attack, adding that they would be punished accordingly.

He also echoed earlier claims from the country’s… pic.twitter.com/ClSGjCplk3

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 23, 2024

US had intel on possible Russia ‘terror attack’, warned Moscow

The US White House says it had received intel about a “planned terrorist attack” in Moscow earlier this month – “potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts” – and passed on the information to Moscow.

It did so as part of its “duty to warn” policy, in which the US alerts nations or groups when it receives intelligence of specific threats to kidnap or kill multiple victims, said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.

US officials told AFP news agency they believe ISIL’s claim to have carried out the attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall is credible.

ISIL views Russia as ‘crusading power against Muslims’

While ISIL’s attack in Moscow is a “tactical shift”, it highlights grievances with Russia that have been there since the armed group’s founding, says Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank, and the author of The ISIS Peril.

“Russia has been a target for ISIL and not just ISIS-K, from the beginning, seen as a crusading power against Muslims,” Taneja told Al Jazeera. “This was highlighted by none other than ISIL’s original caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”

“Russia’s relations with Israel was also seen as detrimental by ISIL ideology. So this friction is not new ideologically, but is so tactically,” Taneja added.

Following an ISIL attack on the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022, “Russian security agencies have upped their efforts to clamp down on pro-ISIL ecosystems both in Russia and around its borders, specifically Central Asia and the Caucuses”, Taneja said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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