Russian law enforcement officers walk at the scene of a shooting at the Krokus town hall in Krasnogorsk on March 23, 2024, outside Moscow.
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MOSCOW (AP) — The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that 11 people were detained after gunmen burst into a Moscow concert hall and opened fire on a crowd, state news agency TASS reported.
Russian authorities said on Saturday that at least 93 people were killed in the attack, including three children.
Images shared by Russian state media on Saturday showed a convoy of emergency vehicles still gathering outside the ruins of Krokus city hall. Krokos Town Hall is a shopping mall and music venue in Krasnogorsk on the western edge of Moscow, with a capacity of over 6,000 people.
Friday’s attack came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin consolidated his power in a landslide in a carefully orchestrated election. The attack was Russia’s worst in years and came as the country’s fighting in Ukraine entered its third year.
Videos posted online showed gunmen shooting at civilians at close range at the venue. The roof of the theater, where people gathered on Friday to watch a performance by Russian rock band Picnic, collapsed in the early hours of Saturday as firefighters spent hours extinguishing a blaze that broke out during the attack.
TASS said four of the detainees were directly involved in the attack.
On March 23, 2024, a Russian tricolor flag fluttered in the wind near the burned-out Crocus Town Hall concert hall following a shooting incident in Krasnogorsk outside Moscow. Gunmen opened fire on a Moscow concert hall, killing more than 60 people, authorities said on March 23, 2024, setting off a fire that injured more than 100 people and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
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The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated social media channels, but neither the Kremlin nor Russian security services officially blamed it.
The Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan said in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency that it attacked a large group of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk. The veracity of that claim could not immediately be verified.
However, a U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed that “Islamic State” was responsible for the attack.
The official said U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that an Islamic State affiliate was planning an attack in Moscow, and U.S. officials had privately shared that intelligence with Russian officials earlier this month.
The official was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to discuss intelligence information publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Messages have since poured in from around the world expressing anger, shock and support for those affected.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned the “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and stressed that those responsible must be held accountable. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack “in the strongest possible terms,” his spokesman said.
Firefighting efforts continue at the Crocus Town Hall concert venue near Moscow, Russia, following a shooting on March 23, 2024.
Ali Kula | Anadolu | Getty Images
Meanwhile, in Moscow, hundreds of people lined up to donate blood and plasma on Saturday morning, the Russian Health Ministry said.
Putin extended his grip on Russia by six years in this week’s presidential election following a sweeping crackdown on dissent. He publicly denounced Western warnings of potential terrorist attacks, calling them an attempt to intimidate Russians. “All of this is akin to open blackmail in an attempt to intimidate and destabilize our society,” he said earlier this week.
In October 2015, a bomb planted by the Islamic State shot down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board, most of whom were Russian holidaymakers returning from Egypt. The group operates primarily in Syria and Iraq but also operates in Afghanistan and Africa and has also been responsible for a number of attacks in Russia’s restive Caucasus region and elsewhere over the past few years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
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