At the very least 60 individuals have been killed and dozens extra injured after gunmen opened fireplace and set off explosives at a live performance corridor on the western fringe of Moscow.
Right here’s what we all know up to now:
Crocus Metropolis Corridor
The Russian capital is a sprawling metropolis that’s dwelling to some 21 million individuals.
The Crocus Metropolis Corridor, which features a purchasing centre and convention venue, lies in suburban Krasnogorsk, about 20km (12 miles) west of the Kremlin and alongside the Moscow ring street.
Opened in 2009, the live performance corridor is a well-liked leisure venue with a capability for six,200 individuals.
Former United States President Donald Trump as soon as held a Miss Universe contest there.
The assault
The assault started on Friday night simply as individuals had been taking their seats for a sold-out present by Picnic, a preferred rock band from the Soviet period.
As many as 5 males in fight fatigues entered the live performance corridor and opened fireplace on these inside.
Dave Primov, who was within the corridor in the course of the assault, described chaotic scenes.
“There have been volleys of gunfire,” Primov advised The Related Press information company. “All of us obtained up and tried to maneuver towards the aisles. Individuals started to panic, began to run and collided with one another. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”
Russian investigators mentioned greater than 60 individuals had been killed, whereas 145 extra had been injured in one of many worst assaults to hit the nation in many years.
The attackers additionally set off explosives that ignited an enormous blaze that at one level lined as a lot as 12,900 sq. metres (139,000sq ft), in line with Russian information company Interfax.
Helicopters had been introduced in to douse the flames from the air, as firefighters battled the blaze from the bottom. The hearth was finally introduced below management early on Saturday.
The Emergency Conditions Ministry mentioned firefighters helped about 100 individuals escape by means of the constructing’s basement, whereas rescue operations had been additionally launched for individuals trapped on the roof.
TASS information company mentioned the members of Picnic weren’t harmed and had been evacuated safely.
The hunt for the attackers
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the highest state prison investigation company, opened a “terrorist” investigation into the assault and the nationwide guard, Rosgvardia, was amongst items deployed to seek for the gunmen.
Graphic movies posted on social media confirmed the gunmen firing repeated rounds as they entered the constructing, capturing screaming individuals at point-blank vary.
One other video confirmed a person within the auditorium saying the attackers had set it on fireplace.
The Kremlin didn’t instantly blame anybody for the assault, however some Russian lawmakers had been fast to accuse Ukraine.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukraine’s involvement.
“Ukraine has by no means resorted to the usage of terrorist strategies,” he posted on X. “The whole lot on this warfare might be determined solely on the battlefield.”
ISIL claims accountability
Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), an Afghan affiliate of ISIL (ISIS), claimed accountability for the assault in a press release posted by its Amaq information company.
It mentioned its fighters had attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding a whole lot and inflicting nice destruction to the place earlier than they withdrew to their bases safely” after which escaped. It gave no additional element.
Russia has reported a number of incidents involving ISIL this month, with the FSB intelligence company saying on March 7 it foiled an assault by ISKP on a Moscow synagogue.
The US had additionally warned of the heightened risk posed by “extremists” with imminent plans for an assault on “massive gatherings” in Moscow, and had shared that discovering with the Russians. On Friday evening, a US official mentioned Washington had intelligence confirming ISIL’s declare of accountability for the Crocus Metropolis Corridor assault.
Specialists mentioned the group had opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin lately.
“ISIS-Okay [ISKP] has been fixated on Russia for the previous two years, often criticising Putin in its propaganda,” mentioned Colin Clarke of Soufan Heart, a Washington-based analysis group.
Michael Kugelman of the Washington, DC-based Wilson Heart mentioned that ISKP “sees Russia as being complicit in actions that commonly oppress Muslims”.
What earlier assaults have focused Russia?
In October 2015, an ISIL-planted bomb exploded on a Russian passenger airplane over Sinai, killing all 224 individuals on board, most of them Russians coming back from their holidays in Egypt.
The nation was additionally shaken by a sequence of lethal assaults within the early 2000s.
In September 2004, about 30 Chechen fighters seized a faculty in Beslan in southern Russia taking a whole lot of individuals hostage. The siege resulted in a massacre two days later and greater than 330 individuals, about half of them kids, had been killed.
In October 2002, Chechen fighters stormed a theatre in Moscow taking about 800 individuals hostage within the auditorium. Russian particular forces launched a bid to rescue the captives two days later, by first subduing the attackers with a narcotic fuel. Some 41 Chechens died, in addition to 129 hostages, largely from the results of the fuel.