In Moscow, several attackers entered a big concert hall on Friday and shot at the crowd, causing at least 40 deaths, over 100 injuries, and setting fire to the venue. This happened shortly after President Vladimir Putin secured his power through an orchestrated election victory.
The Islamic State group claimed that they were behind the attack in a statement on social media, but there's no independent confirmation. It's unclear what happened to the attackers, and the state investigators are treating it as a terrorist act.
The assault, which left the concert hall burning with a collapsing roof, was the most deadly in Russia in years and occurred as the country's conflict in Ukraine continued for a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the raid as a "huge tragedy."
The Kremlin reported that Putin was informed within minutes of the assailants entering Crocus City Hall, a large music venue on the western edge of Moscow with a capacity of 6,200 people.
The attack happened during a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic. As the Federal Security Service of Russia documented 40 deaths and over 100 injuries, some Russian news mentioned that more people could have been trapped by the fire caused by the attackers throwing explosives. Health authorities provided a list of 145 injured, with 115 of them taken to hospitals, including five children.
Video footage showed the building in flames, with thick smoke rising into the night sky. The street was illuminated by the flashing blue lights of numerous firetrucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles, while helicopters dropped water on the blaze for hours to control it.
The prosecutor's office stated that several men in combat gear entered the concert hall and shot at the audience.
Multiple bursts of gunfire could be heard in videos posted by Russian media and on Telegram channels. One video showed two men carrying rifles moving through the venue. Another featured a man in the auditorium describing the assailants setting it on fire as gunshots continued in the background.
Other videos depicted up to four attackers, armed with assault rifles and wearing hats, shooting at screaming people from close range.
Security guards at the concert hall did not have firearms, and some may have been killed at the beginning of the attack, according to Russian media. Some reports suggested that the attackers fled before special forces and riot police arrived. Police patrols were said to be searching for several vehicles that the attackers might have used to escape.
The Islamic State group stated through its Aamaq news agency that it targeted a large gathering of "Christians" in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, causing deaths and injuries to hundreds. The authenticity of this claim could not be immediately confirmed.
Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, an expert on the terrorist group, pointed out that the IS statement presented their claim as an attack on Christians, indicating the group's strategy of "attacking wherever possible as part of a global mission to fight unbelievers and apostates everywhere."
Russia’s main security agency announced that it stopped an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by a group linked to Islamic State, killing some of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days before, Russian authorities reported that six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia in Russia’s volatile Caucasus region.
It was unclear why the group, which mainly operates in Syria and Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and Africa, would carry out an attack in Russia at this time. Over the years, the extremist group recruited fighters from the former Soviet Union who fought for them in Syria and Iraq and claimed several previous attacks in the Caucasus and other Russian regions.
While the fire continued, people from around the world expressed strong feelings of anger, surprise, and support for those affected.
Some people on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who constantly monitor and pressure Kremlin critics, failed to recognize the threat and stop the attack.
Russian officials stated that security has been increased at Moscow’s airports, railway stations, and the capital’s extensive subway system. Moscow’s mayor cancelled all large gatherings, and theaters and museums closed for the weekend. Other Russian regions also heightened security.
The Kremlin did not immediately blame anyone for the attack, but some Russian lawmakers quickly accused Ukraine and called for escalating strikes. Shortly before the attack, the Russian military launched a widespread assault on Ukraine’s power system, damaging the country’s largest hydroelectric plant and other energy facilities, leaving over a million people without electricity.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, stated that if Ukraine’s involvement in the attack is proven, all those responsible “must be tracked down and killed without mercy, including officials of the state that committed such outrage.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukraine's involvement.
“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he posted on X. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”
John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said that he couldn’t yet discuss the details but “the images are just horrible. And just hard to watch.”
“Our thoughts are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack,” Kirby said.
The attack followed a statement earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that advised Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital due to “imminent” plans by extremists to target large gatherings, including concerts. The warning, issued hours after Russia’s main security agency said it dismantled a cell of the Islamic State group preparing an attack on a synagogue, was reiterated by several other Western embassies.
Asked about the embassy’s March 7 notice, Kirby referred the question to the State Department, adding: “I don’t think that was related to this specific attack.”
Responding to a question about whether Washington had any prior information about the assault, Kirby responded: “I’m not aware of any advance knowledge that we had of this terrible attack.”
Putin, who continued his control over Russia for another six years in this week’s presidential vote after a broad crackdown on opposition, condemned the Western warnings as an effort to scare Russians. He said earlier this week, “All that seems like open blackmail and an effort to frighten and destabilize our society.”
Russia experienced a series of deadly terror attacks in the early 2000s while dealing with separatists in the Russian region of Chechnya.
In October 2002, Chechen militants captured about 800 people at a Moscow theater. Two days later, Russian special forces raided the building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters died, most of them from the effects of narcotic gas used by Russian forces to control the attackers.
And in September 2004, around 30 Chechen militants seized a school in Beslan in southern Russia, holding hundreds of hostages. The siege ended in a massacre two days later, resulting in the deaths of over 330 people, approximately half of whom were children.
___
This story was updated to correct that John Kirby is a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, not the White House national security adviser.
