Mar 23, 2024. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Moscow.
Camouflage-clad
gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers near Moscow on
Friday, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145 in an attack claimed by
Islamic State militants.
In the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, gunmen sprayed civilians with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" was to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat the Crocus City Hall just west of the capital.
Verified
video showed people taking their seats in the hall, then rushing for the exits
as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Other video showed men shooting at
groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.
"Suddenly
there were bangs behind us - shots. A burst of firing - I do not know
what," one witness, who asked not to be identified by name, told Reuters.
"A
stampede began. Everyone ran to the escalator," the witness said.
"Everyone was screaming; everyone was running."
Russian
investigators said the death toll was more than 60. Health officials said about
145 people were wounded, of which about 60 were in critical condition.
In the 2004
Beslan school siege, Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including
hundreds of children, hostage.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin was being updated by security chiefs about the
situation, including from Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security
Service (FSB), the Kremlin said.
Russian
investigators published pictures of a Kalashnikov automatic weapon, vests with
multiple spare magazines and bags of spent bullet casings.
ISLAMIC
STATE
Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.
A grainy
picture was published by some Russian media of two of the alleged attackers in
a white car.
The fate of
the attackers was unclear as firefighters battled a massive blaze and emergency
services evacuated hundreds of people while parts of the venue's roof
collapsed.
Islamic
State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, "killing and
wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they
withdrew to their bases safely." The statement gave no further detail.
The United
States has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for
the shooting, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official said Washington had
warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.
"We
did warn the Russians appropriately," said the official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details.
Russia has
yet to say who it thinks is responsible.
The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 20 km from the Kremlin, comes just two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.
Hours
before the embassy warning, the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow
synagogue by Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-Khorasan
or ISIS-K, and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
Putin
changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting
President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State.
"ISIS-K
has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing Putin
in its propaganda," said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center.
The broader
Islamic State group has claimed deadly attacks across the Middle East,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Europe, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Russian
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was a "bloody
terrorist attack" that the entire world should condemn.
The United
States, European and Arab powers and many former Soviet republics expressed
shock and sent their condolences. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo
Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement.
Reuters