The death toll rises to 115 in an attack on a Moscow concert hall

[Pelican Press 0]

The ****** toll rises to 115 in an ******* on a Moscow concert hall

Russian law enforcement officers walk at the site of a **** ******* on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 23, 2024.

********* | Afp | Getty Images

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials say the ****** toll has risen to 115 in an ******* by assailants who burst into a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s ******* in a statement. The ******* was the deadliest in Russia in years and left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof.

The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service told President Vladimir ****** on Saturday that four people directly involved in the ******* were among 11 detained, Russian state news agency Tass said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities detained 11 people, state media reported Saturday, after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow in a grisly ******* that left at least 93 people *****.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said four of those detained were directly involved in the *******. Russian agencies appeared to suggest the ******* was linked to Ukraine even though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility in a statement. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. agencies had confirmed that that group was responsible for the *******.

A Russian national tricolor flag flutters in the wind near the burned Crocus City Hall concert hall, the scene of the **** *******, in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 23, 2024. Gunmen who opened ***** at a Moscow concert hall ******* more than 60 people and wounded over 100 while sparking an inferno, authorities said on March 23, 2024, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility.

********* | Afp | Getty Images

The four suspects were stopped in the Bryansk region of western Russia, “not far from the border with Ukraine,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said. They planned to cross the border into Ukraine and “had contacts” there, state news agency Tass said, citing Russia’s FSB. The head of the FSB briefed President Vladimir ****** on the arrests on Saturday, according to Tass.

The ******* came just days after ****** cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. The ******* was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s ****** in Ukraine dragged into a third year.

Shortly after the *******, some Russian lawmakers pointed the finger at Ukraine. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied any involvement.

“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of ********** methods,” he posted on X, formerly

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. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”

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 ********* 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 ***** which erupted during the *******.

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.

A U.S. intelligence official told the AP that U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that the IS branch was planning an ******* in Moscow, and that U.S. 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.

Messages of outrage, shock and support for those affected have since streamed in from around the world.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council condemned “the heinous and cowardly ********** *******” and underlined the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the ********** ******* “in the strongest possible terms,” his spokesman said.

Working to extinguish the blaze continues at Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, Russia after reports of a ********* incident on March 23, 2024. 

Ali Cura | Anadolu | Getty Images

Meanwhile, in Moscow itself, hundreds of people stood in line Saturday morning to donate blood and plasma, Russia’s health ministry said.

******, 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 ********** ******* 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 ***** planted by the Islamic State downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, ******** 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 *******, also 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 ******* Union.

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