Russians are called to gather for a day of national mourning on Sunday. Friday’s attack on a concert hall near Moscow is the deadliest claimed by ISIS in Europe, with more than 130 people dead. In the rubble of the building destroyed by the flames, research continues.
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Russia is observing a day of national mourning on Sunday, March 24, following the massacre at a concert hall in Moscow claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
“The whole country is in mourning with those who lost loved ones in this inhumane tragedy,” Russian public television channel Rossiya 24 said Sunday morning. It broadcasts images from a large digital panel installed on the walls of the concert hall: a candle on a black background and the inscription “Crocus City Hall. 03/22/2024. We are in mourning…”.
The men blew up Crocus City Hall on Friday evening, killing at least 133 people, before firing automatic weapons into the crowd and starting a fire with flammable liquids, according to investigators.
Condemning the “barbaric terrorist” act, Vladimir Putin, in a televised address on Saturday, promised to punish the perpetrators. The Russian president announced that “four perpetrators” of the attack had been arrested “while they were on their way to Ukraine”, without mentioning the IS claim.
The Kremlin earlier announced that “11 people, including four terrorists involved in the attack, have been arrested.” According to the authorities, the four “foreign nationals” were caught in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus.
The search continued in the rubble
The attack, which took place at a concert hall in Krasnogorsk, northwest of the Russian capital, is the deadliest in Russia in twenty years, and the bloodiest claimed by ISIS in Europe.
The death toll on Sunday morning was 133 dead and 152 injured, according to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.
A search of the wreckage, which was ravaged by flames and partially collapsed roofs, is ongoing and could take days. Heavy equipment arrived at the site on Saturday evening to demolish damaged structures and remove debris, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Putin did not mention the jihadist claim
ISIS, which Russia is fighting in Syria and which is also active in the Russian Caucasus, has carried out attacks in the country since the late 2010s. But the group has never claimed responsibility for an attack of this magnitude.
On one of its Telegram accounts, IS claimed on Friday evening that the attack was carried out by four of its members, and that it was part of “the context of a raging war (…)” between the group and “countries fighting against Islam”. “
A video apparently shot by the concert hall attackers near Moscow was circulated on social media accounts commonly used by ISIS, according to a site group specializing in counter-terrorism research.
See also thisAttack near Moscow: “The dispute between Russia and Islamic State is very old”
The one-minute-and-31-second video shows several figures with indistinct faces and indistinct voices, armed with assault rifles and knives, appearing in the lobby of the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk.
The attackers fire several explosions, numerous lifeless bodies litter the ground and we can see the start of a fire in the background.
However, neither Vladimir Putin nor the Security Services (FSB) have charged the jihadist group.
Ukrainian refusal
The FSB claimed that the suspects had “appropriate contacts on the Ukrainian side” and planned to flee to that country, without providing further details about the nature of these links or evidence of their existence.
“Ukraine has nothing to do with this incident,” insisted Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, dismissing the “absurd” accusations.
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The head of public media RT, Margarita Simonyan, published videos showing the confessions of two suspects during their interrogation, in which they did not name the sponsor. AFP is unable to confirm their authenticity.
Despite IS’s claims, many questions remain unanswered. According to Russian media and MP Alexander Khinstein, some of the suspects are from Tajikistan. Authorities in the Central Asian country said they had “not received confirmation from Russian authorities” on the matter.
with AFP
