At least 60 people were killed and more than 100 injured Friday evening, March 22, in an attack by gunmen at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow.
According to the emergency services, cited by the Interfax agency, a “group of two to five unidentified people wearing tactical uniforms and armed with automatic weapons” “opened fire on security agents at the entrance to the concert hall” of the Crocus City Hall, a huge exhibition center in Krasnogorsk, northwest of the Russian capital, then “started shooting at the audience” on Friday evening, before the start of a rock concert .
According to a journalist from the state news agency Ria Novosti, individuals in camouflage outfits burst onto the concert hall floor before opening fire and throwing “a grenade or bomb, which caused a fire “. “The people who were in the room lay down on the ground to protect themselves from the shots for fifteen to twenty minutes, after which they began to crawl out. Many managed to get out,” this journalist explained.
“Just before the start, we suddenly heard several machine gun bursts and a terrible woman’s scream. Then a lot of screaming,” Alexeï, a music producer who was in a dressing room at the time of the attack, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Only three or four bursts, then a few more,” he added, reached by telephone. From the dressing rooms where he barricaded himself before fleeing, he was able to observe the panic of the spectators: “People were running towards the stage, terrible crowd movements.”
According to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, firefighters first managed to evacuate around a hundred people who were in the basement of the concert hall where the Russian rock group Piknik was to perform, whose members could also have been exfiltrated, TASS reported. Operations were then launched, according to the Russian agency, to “rescue people from the roof of the building using lifting equipment.” The large fire in the building housing the performance hall was “contained” by firefighters, according to authorities, in the early hours of Saturday.
According to the investigative committee, cited by Russian news agencies, at least 60 people died in this attack. “Unfortunately, the number of victims could increase,” he said. A previous report given by the Russian security services (FSB) reported 40 deaths and the Minister of Health, Mikhail Murashko, informed that 115 people had been hospitalized, including five children.
A statement released late Friday evening by the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack. IS fighters “attacked a large gathering (…) in the vicinity of the Russian capital Moscow,” IS said on one of its Telegram accounts. The jihadist group, which has already targeted Russia several times, claimed that its commando had then “returned to its base safely”.
For their part, Russian law enforcement said they were “looking” for the attackers. An investigation into a “terrorist act” has been opened. The investigative committee released a video showing investigators working in the lobby of the concert hall, where an automatic weapon and ammunition magazines can be seen.
Vladimir Putin spoke overnight with officials from law enforcement and emergency services. According to Russian news agencies citing the Kremlin, the president received the reports from the director of the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the National Guard, as well as the ministers of the interior, health and emergency situations . But he has not yet spoken officially.
“The president wished everyone a speedy recovery and conveyed his gratitude to the doctors,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, denounced a “bloody terrorist attack” and a “monstrous crime”. The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, announced the cancellation of all public events. The capital’s main museums and theaters have announced their closure. Reinforced security measures have been put in place, according to Russian television, particularly at airports.
“Let’s be clear, Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with these events,” assured, before the IS claim, an advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, qualifying them as a “terrorist act”. Ukrainian military intelligence had accused the Kremlin and its special services of orchestrating the attack to blame Ukraine and justify an “escalation” of the war. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assured that Moscow would kill Ukrainian leaders if it turned out that they were involved in this attack.
Washington quickly deplored the tragedy, while appearing to dismiss Ukraine’s involvement. The White House thus assured, through the voice of a spokesperson, that it was “in thoughts alongside the victims of the terrible attack” which occurred at Crocus City Hall.
On March 7, the American embassy communicated in an unusual and apparently uncoordinated manner with Russian authorities about the risk of attacks in Moscow. The embassy, ??followed by its British counterpart, called in particular to “avoid large gatherings, including concerts”, over the next forty-eight hours.
“If the United States has or had reliable data on this subject, it must immediately transmit it to the Russian side,” Ms. Zakharova responded on Friday. Recently, on March 19, Vladimir Putin again mentioned this warning, denouncing “explicit blackmail and a desire to destabilize and frighten our society.”
That same March 7, the FSB assured that it had foiled a planned attack against a Moscow synagogue, attributed to Afghan terrorists linked to the Islamic State organization. A few days earlier, in Ingushetia (North Caucasus), security forces had carried out an all-night assault on a house in the town of Karabulak, killing “six fighters”, according to the authorities.
In 2002, Chechen fighters took 912 people hostage in the Moscow theater of Dubrovka to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The hostage-taking ended with an assault by special forces and the death of 130 people, almost all of them asphyxiated by the gas used by the military.
