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The Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow.
The full statement posted on its Telegram account reads:
Islamic State fighters attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely.
It’s now just after 7am in Moscow and this blog is closing here. We’ll be back soon to bring you all the latest news. In the meantime, here are the key developments:
Gunmen opened fire at the 6,200-seat Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow on Friday evening at a concert for the Russian rock group Piknik.
Sixty people were killed, a spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee said in the early hours of Saturday according to Russian media, and the number may rise. Earlier authorities had said at least 145 were wounded. Ria news agency quoted Moscow governor Andrey Vorobyov as saying 110 adults and five children had been hospitalised, with 60 adults in a serious condition.
Up to five gunmen were believed to be involved in the attack, which was later claimed by Islamic State in a post on Telegram which suggested that the attackers had managed to escape afterwards. Videos released by social media channels close to the security services showed at least two armed men walking into the hall.
The Russian national guard was searching for the attackers, Russian news agencies reported. The Investigative Committee said early Saturday it was too early to say anything about the fate of the attackers.
Videos emerged showing gunmen in tactical gear opening fire with automatic weapons as panicked Russians fled for their lives. One witness told the news agency AFP that as people ran towards emergency exits, “there was a terrible crush” with concert-goers climbing on one another’s heads to get out.
The emergencies ministry said that fire services had helped about 100 people escape through the basement of the concert hall. Tass news agency said that all of the Piknik group had been evacuated safely. Rescue operations were also launched for people trapped on the roof.
President Vladimir Putin was receiving “constant” updates, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.
Earlier this month, western countries led by the United States had issued terror warnings and told their citizens not to join public gatherings in Russia. On 8 March, the US embassy wrote it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours”.
Russia did not immediately blame anyone for the attack. Former president Dmitry Medvedev did say, however, that Ukrainian leaders found to be involved would be “destroyed”.
The US presidency called the attack “terrible” and said there was no immediate sign of any link to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine’s presidency said Kyiv had “nothing to do” with the attack, while its military intelligence called the incident a Russian “provocation” and charged that Moscow special services were behind it.
Russia tightened security at airports, transport hubs and across the capital – a vast urban area of over 21 million people. All large-scale public events have been cancelled across the country.
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The earlier attack in Iran demonstrated the group’s “resiliency and indicates that they retain the capability and will to conduct spectacular external operations”.
Russia’s FSB security service said that on 7 March it had prevented an armed attack by the group on a synagogue in the Kaluga region near Moscow.
The FSB said in a statement:
It was established that the militants of an international terrorist organisation are preparing an attack on the parishioners of the synagogue using firearms.
Within hours, the US embassy issued an unusual warning for American citizens to avoid large gatherings and in particular concerts, repeating calls for US citizens to leave Russia.
CNN reporters said they had been told that “since November there has been ‘fairly specific’ intelligence that Isis-K wanted to carry out attacks in Russia … US intelligence warned Russia about it”.
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The ISKP, which is a branch of IS mainly based in Afghanistan, has increasingly focused its attention on Russia since the United States left Afghanistan in 2021.
The group was formed in 2015 by members of militant groups, including those from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and is active in central Asia and Russia. It carried out twin bombings in January in Iran that killed nearly 100 people.
Gen Michael Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, during testimony to the House armed services committee in early March said:
Isis-K and its allies retain a safe haven in Afghanistan, and they continue to develop their networks in and out of the country.
Their goals do not stop there. They have called for attacks globally on anyone not aligned with their extremist ideology, and Taliban efforts to suppress the group have proven insufficient.
Analysis: Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for Moscow shooting
Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth has analysed Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the Moscow music hall shooting:
Speculation about who carried out the shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow has quickly indicated that the terror attack will have outsized political implications in Russia and abroad.
A claim has surfaced that the attack was carried out by Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) a regional affiliate of the IS terrorist organisation. IS has been implicated in some of Russia’s largest recent terror attacks, including the 2017 bombing in the St Petersburg metro that killed 15 and injured 45.
US intelligence told American news agencies that there’s “no reason to doubt” the IS claims of responsibility.
Russian firefighters and officials have finally entered the auditorium within the Crocus Concert Hall, RIA News reports.
Andrey Vorobyov, the governor of Moscow oblast, said that some pockets of fire still remain in Crocus but that most of the fire had been distinguished.
The roof over the hall collapsed, Vorobyov noted, according to RIA News.
RIA News has also shared a video to Telegram of the passage to Red Square in Moscow being blocked off.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi has also strongly condemned the “heinous terrorist attack in Moscow”, tweeting the country “stands in solidarity with the government and the people of the Russian Federation”.
We strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Moscow. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. India stands in solidarity with the government and the people of the Russian Federation in this hour of grief.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2024
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned and denounced the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.
Posting to social media, the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed “the Kingdom’s sincere condolences and sincere sympathy to the families of the deceased and the government and people of the Russian Federation” after the “painful incident”.
Search continues for attackers
It was reported earlier by Reuters that the fate of the attackers was unclear, as firefighters battled the massive blaze at the concert venue, and emergency services evacuated hundreds of people while parts of the venue’s roof collapsed.
A grainy picture was published by some Russian media reportedly of two of the alleged attackers in a white car.
The search for the attackers reportedly continues but Russian authorities are yet to comment on any developments.
Islamic State said earlier that its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely”. The statement gave no further detail.
Why would ISIS be attacking Russia?
The attack by ISIS-K in Russia on Friday is being described as a dramatic escalation, according to Reuters.
Experts have said the group has opposed Russian president Vladimir Putin in recent years.
For some background, Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting president Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State.
Colin Clarke of Soufan Center, a Washington-based research group, said:
ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing Putin in its propaganda.
ISIS-K, in full is Islamic State Khorasan.
The group is named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, and emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014, quickly establishing a reputation for extreme brutality, as per Reuters.
There is also a Caucasus branch of ISIS.
The broader Islamic State group has claimed deadly attacks across the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Europe, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
We will have a more in-depth explainer coming shortly.
Investigations underway at Crocus City Hall
Russia’s investigative committee has published footage of investigators working at the scene after the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow.
The unknown people who carried out the terrorist attack in Crocus were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, RIA News is reporting.
Here are screenshots of the video released by Russia’s investigative committee on Saturday.
RIA News has shared a full statement from the Russian Investigative Committee regarding updates to the terrorist attack in Crocus:
Investigators, criminologists and experts from the Investigative Committee of Russia, together with the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, continue investigative actions at the scene of the incident.
The bodies of the dead are being examined. It has been previously established that more than 60 people died as a result of the terrorist attack. Unfortunately, the number of victims may increase.
Material evidence, including weapons and ammunition, is confiscated from the crime scene, all necessary examinations are ordered and carried out, including genetic, ballistic, and fingerprint examinations.
CCTV footage is being confiscated and studied.
Russia’s Tass state news agency is reporting that Putin has wished all those injured in the emergency at Crocus City Hall a speedy recovery and conveyed his gratitude to the doctors.
Russia’s deputy prime minister, Tatiana Golikova reportedly told Tass of Putin’s remarks, which are the first comments the Russian president has made so far about the terror attack.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Saturday that more than 60 people had been killed in the attack on the concert near Moscow, according to Reuters.
Russian state news agency RIA on Saturday quoted a spokesperson for the country’s Investigative Committee as saying it was too early to say anything about the fate of the attackers.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said it was a “bloody terrorist attack” that the entire world should condemn, according to AFP.
Zakharova wrote on Telegram earlier:
The entire world community must condemn this despicable crime!
French president Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack on Friday at a concert hall near Moscow, calling it a “terrorist attack”, according to Reuters.
Macron, in a statement, said he “firmly condemns this terrorist attack, claimed by the Islamic State”.
He said in the statement that France stands in solidarity with the victims of the shooting.
This is Claire Keenan taking over from my colleague Maanvi Singh.
The US has intelligence confirming the Islamic State’s claim taking responsibility for the attack, according to Reuters. The agency cites an unnamed US official:
The official said the United States had warned Russia in recent weeks about the possibility of an attack.
‘We did warn the Russians appropriately,’ said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details.
At least 40 people were killed and 145 wounded on Friday when camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on concertgoers near Moscow in one of the deadliest attacks on Russia in decades.
Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Amaq agency said on Telegram.
The death toll made it one of the worst attacks on Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people hostage, including hundreds of children.
The death toll has risen to 62, Russia’s Baza news outlet has reported based on preliminary information. The Guardian has not confirmed the number and will be watching for updates from the health ministry.