Russia : Claim of a deadly attack in Moscow by the Islamic State
A bloody attack followed by a massive fire in Russia. A group of armed men, dressed in camouflage and with their faces covered by hoods, attacked a concert hall in the Moscow suburb on the evening of Friday, March 22nd. At least 145 people were killed.
Russian law enforcement officials announced on Saturday, March 23rd that they had arrested 11 people, including four suspected assailants. The Russian security services (FSB) stated that the suspects had contacts in Ukraine and planned to flee there. This information is strongly denied by Kiev.
The attack was claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State as early as Friday evening, which has targeted Russia several times before. The organization stated that its fighters had « attacked a large gathering (…) in the vicinity of the Russian capital Moscow » and specified on one of its Telegram accounts that its commando had then returned to its base safely.
This assault, which Russian media began reporting around 8:15 p.m. in Moscow (1:15 a.m. UTC), was carried out at the Crocus City Hall, a concert hall located in Krasnogorsk, on the northwest outskirts of the Russian capital, during a concert by the Russian rock group Piknik.
Rescue services, cited by the Interfax news agency, reported a « group of two to five unidentified individuals wearing tactical uniforms and armed with automatic weapons who opened fire on security personnel at the entrance to the concert hall and then began shooting at the audience ».
Telegram news channels Baza and Mash, known to be close to law enforcement, published videos showing at least two armed men advancing in the hall and others showing corpses. Other images show spectators hiding behind seats.
« Just before the start, we suddenly heard several bursts of gunfire and a terrible scream from a woman. Then a lot of screams »,said Alexei, a music producer who was in the boxes at the time of the attack. The Russian Investigative Committee subsequently released images of the weapons used by the assailants, including Kalashnikov-type assault rifles.
