Gunmen Kill at Least 60 at Moscow Concert Hall, Russian Officials Say
U.S. officials said the Islamic State was responsible for the attack, one of the deadliest in Russia’s capital region in more than a decade.
Several camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire at a popular concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday night, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100, Russian authorities said, making it the deadliest attack in the capital region in more than a decade.
Hours after the mayhem began, the Russian national guard said its officers were still looking for the attackers. State media agencies reported that there had been up to five perpetrators.
The group that claimed credit for the deadly terrorist attack in Moscow on Friday is the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan called Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K.
ISIS-K was founded in 2015 by disaffected members of the Pakistani Taliban, who then embraced a more violent version of Islam. The group saw its ranks cut roughly in half, to about 1,500 to 2,000 fighters, by 2021 from a combination of American airstrikes and Afghan commando raids that killed many of its leaders.
At least 115 people have been hospitalized from the attack on the Moscow concert hall, five of them children, according to the Russian minister of health, Mikhail Murashko. Another 30 were treated and released.
The injured include 60 adult patients in serious condition, the minister said.
Museums in Moscow will be closed on Saturday and Sunday after the deadly attack at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, the news agency TASS reported.
A branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for the attack in Moscow that killed at least 60 people and injured about 100 others, and U.S. officials confirmed the claim shortly afterward.
The United States collected intelligence in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow, according to officials. ISIS members have been active in Russia, one U.S. official said.
The health care ministry of the Moscow region published a list of 145 people who were hospitalized in various clinics in Moscow and beyond because of the attack. At least six of them were children, according to the list.
The attack occured as the band Piknik (Picnic in English) was about to perform at the concert hall in Moscow on Friday night. It is one of the oldest Russian rock bands that are still active and popular in the country and beyond. Founded in late 1970s, Piknik has developed its own unique style, inspired by art rock, Russian and eastern folk cultures. Unlike many other rock bands that condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Piknik has continued to perform across the country.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has yet to make a public statement about the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall, though his spokesman said he was being briefed.
American officials are worried that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could seek to falsely blame Ukraine for Friday's attack, putting pressure on Western governments to identify those they believe may be responsible. Mr. Putin frequently twists events, even tragic ones, to fit his public narrative. And he has been quick to accuse Ukraine of acts of terrorism to justify his invasion of the country.
The U.S. warning on March 7 that “extremists” could target concerts or other large gatherings in Moscow was related to the attack on Friday, according to people briefed on the matter. The warning was not related to possible Ukrainian sabotage, American officials said, who added that the State Department would not have used the word extremists to warn about actions ordered from Kyiv.
The concert hall where the shooting took place was built by the Azerbaijan-born billionaire Aras Agalarov, whose son, Emin, is a famous pop star. Former President Donald J. Trump held the Miss Universe pageant there in 2013. Famous international pop stars, including Eric Clapton, Dua Lipa and Sia, have also performed there.
The roof of the Crocus City Hall building appeared to be collapsing because of the fire, according to a Russian outlet.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert on March 7, warning that its personnel were “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts.” The statement warned Americans that an attack could take place in the next 48 hours.
The warning was related to the attack on Friday, according to people briefed on the matter. But it was not related to possible Ukrainian sabotage, American officials said, adding that the State Department would not have used the word “extremists” to warn about actions ordered from Kyiv.
The Russian national guard said its officers were still looking for the gunmen at the site of the attack. It is still unclear who were the perpetrators and what were their motives. In a statement, the security agency said that it has been evacuating people from the building.
Russian emergency service said in a statement that it had deployed additional firefighter crews to the site of the fire. Over 320 rescue specialists and 130 units of equipment have been working and three helicopters are dropping water on the building, the agency said.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office, said in a video statement that “Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do” with the attack. He said Ukraine had never used “terrorist methods of warfare” and that its only goal was “to destroy the Russian regular army” and “end the war.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said, according to Reuters, “On what basis do officials in Washington draw any conclusions in the midst of a tragedy about someone’s innocence?” She added that if Washington had information, it should be shared and that if Washington had no information, it should not be talking in such a way.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security communications adviser, said that there was “no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians, were involved in the shooting.” In comments to reporters, he said, “I would disabuse you at this early hour of any connection to Ukraine.”
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, called the attack “a nightmare” and offered her condolences. Writing on X, the social network, she added, “Everyone involved in this crime must be found and held accountable.”
A witness who gave her name only as Marina said she was in a line to see the concert at the venue about 8 p.m. when people without overcoats started running out through the concert hall’s glass doors. “On my left there were about 15 people; they said they heard shots,” she said in a text message. “As soon as I heard automatic rifle shots, I started running, too.”
Crocus City Hall is a concert venue that is part of a large complex on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, right outside the city limits. It is a sprawling complex that includes a shopping mall, a convention center and several hotels and restaurants.
President Vladimir V. Putin received reports about the shooting minutes after it had started, the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told local news agencies, in the first comments by the Kremlin about the attack.
The fire set off by the attack has almost completely destroyed the top floor of the Crocus City concert hall. But the blaze has since decreased sharply, according to TASS, a Russian state news agency.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on the attack. But a speech by President Vladimir V. Putin to Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the F.S.B., on Tuesday now looms large. He had dismissed the U.S. Embassy’s earlier security alert about a possible terrorist attack in Moscow as “obvious blackmail.” He had also claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine was seeking to carry out attacks inside Russia “in places where people gather in large numbers.”
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/22/world/moscow-shooting
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