Toll in Moscow terror attack up to 133; US intel official: We warned Russia of a plot
American source tells AP Washington knew of ISIS plans to strike country and had shared intel; authorities arrest 11 suspects in deadly assault on concert hall
MOSCOW — Eleven people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow and opened fire on the crowd, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
Russian investigators said Saturday the death toll from the deadly attack Friday had risen to 133 from an earlier figure of 115 dead.
“While clearing the debris in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, the number killed as a result of the terrorist attack rose to 133 people. Search operations are continuing,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement on Friday’s attack.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted the FSB security service as saying that the four suspected perpetrators of the attack were heading towards Russia’s border with Ukraine when they were apprehended early on Saturday, and “had contact” on the Ukrainian side.
Four of those detained were directly involved in the attack, Tass said.
The FSB said the attack had been carefully planned. At least three children were among the dead, authorities said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated social media channels, although neither the Kremlin nor Russian security services have officially assigned blame for the attack.
The Crocus city Hall #Moscow
It's Horrible. ????#Russia #MoscowAttack#MoscowTerrorAttack #MoscowUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/QcbEv1PAGq— Farmers_Protest 2.0 (@FarmersProtest_) March 23, 2024
The terror group said four of its members carried out the attack and released photos of them.
In a statement posted by its Aamaq news agency, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan said it had attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim.
However, a US intelligence official told The Associated Press that US intelligence agencies had confirmed that ISIS was responsible for the attack.
BREAKING:
The official ISIS outlet “Al-Amaq” releases a longer statement on the attack in Moscow and includes a photo of the attackers. pic.twitter.com/dwC0TeTf4l
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 23, 2024
The official said US intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that the ISIS branch was planning an attack in Moscow, and that US officials had privately shared the intelligence earlier this month with Russian officials. The official was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence information and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Putin on Saturday called the attack a “barbaric terrorist act” and vowed harsh retribution to all those involved.
In a televised address, Putin said all four gunmen had been arrested before they had a chance to cross the border into Ukraine.
“I am speaking to you today in connection with the bloody, barbaric terrorist act, the victims of which were dozens of innocent, peaceful people,” Putin said in his first public remarks since the attack.
“All four perpetrators of the terrorist attack who shot and killed people have been detained. They were traveling towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary information, they had a window to cross the border,” he said.
The attack came just days after Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. The attack was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s fight in Ukraine dragged into a third year.
Images shared by Russian state media Saturday showed a fleet of emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of Crocus City Hall, a shopping mall and music venue with a capacity of more than 6,000 people in Krasnogorsk, on Moscow’s western edge.
Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. The roof of the theater, where crowds had gathered Friday for a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning as firefighters spent hours fighting a fire that erupted during the attack.
In the aftermath of the attack, some Russian lawmakers were quick to accuse Ukraine. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, denied any involvement.
“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”
Messages of outrage, shock and support for those affected have since streamed in from around the world.
On Friday, the UN Security Council condemned “the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and underlined the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack “in the strongest possible terms,” his spokesman said.
Meanwhile, in Moscow itself, hundreds of people stood in line Saturday morning to donate blood and plasma, Russia’s health ministry said.
Putin, who extended his grip on Russia for another six years in this week’s presidential vote after a sweeping crackdown on dissent, had publicly denounced the Western warnings of a potential terrorist attack as an attempt to intimidate Russians.
“All that resembles open blackmail and an attempt to frighten and destabilize our society,” he said earlier this week.
In October 2015, a bomb planted by the Islamic State downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt. The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
