Massacre in Moscow
At least 40 dead as gunmen open fire at rock concert and then set building on fire
DOZENS of people have been killed and more than a hundred wounded after gunmen stormed a crowded Moscow concert hall last night.
Footage circulated on social media appeared to show several men in combat fatigues entering the Crocus City Hall in the west of Moscow, where a popular rock band was playing.
The shooters – who have yet to be identified – are believed to have also set fire to the building with explosives.
Russia’s National Guard and more than 50 ambulance crews arrived at the scene shortly after the first reports of the attack at around 6pm.
But the blaze raged for more than an hour while firemen were unable to approach the building during the shooting. By 8pm, emergency services had begun to tackle the blaze with the assistance of a helicopter.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said 40 people had died and more than 100 people were wounded in the attack, some of them believed to be children.
But the toll was expected to rise further last night, with victims trapped in the hall’s upper levels by the blaze.
Crowds had gathered for a concert of Russian rock band Picnic, at the hall which can hold more than 6,000 people. The attack began simultaneously in the auditorium and the foyer, where people were still queueing to enter.
‘They acted like trained fighters,’ a witness told the Mash Telegram channel. ‘At the moment of entering the building, the guards and people standing at the door were killed. Then they blocked the main entrance. The terrorists are armed with AKM assault rifles. At least two of the attackers are carrying backpacks, possibly with Molotov cocktails.’
Telegram channel Baza carried a report from a security guard at the central entrance to the hall: ‘When the shooting began I was standing at the central entrance on the ground floor.
‘They started shooting from outside and the windows shattered. Next to the entrance there were three other security guards and they hid behind an advertising
‘They acted like trained fighters’
board. And those attackers walked past us 10m away.
‘They started shooting randomly at people on the ground floor and went towards the concert hall.’
Another witness said: ‘Everyone started running, there was panic, there was a terrible crush. Everyone was lying down on the ground, crushing each other.’
Chilling footage purportedly filmed within the concert hall, posted on social media last night, appeared to show the heavilyarmed gunmen shooting people at point- blank range as they moved through the hall.
The apparent terror attack comes days after president Vladmir Putin was re-elected for another six years.
It also followed a statement earlier this month by the US embassy in Moscow urging Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital in view of an imminent attack, a warning repeated by the UK Foreign Office. The security alert on its website warned: ‘The embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.’
But earlier this week, Putin denounced the warnings as an attempt to intimidate Russians.
Last night, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there was no indication that Ukraine was involved. A spokesman for Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky also denied Kyiv’s involvement in the attack.
But former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, a key Putin confidant, refused to rule out Ukrainian involvement as he vowed a fearsome response. He said: ‘Terrorists understand only retaliatory terror. No trials or investigations. If it is established that these are terrorists linked to Kyiv regime, it is impossible to deal with them and their ideological inspirers any differently.
‘All of them must be found and mercilessly destroyed. Including officials of the state.’
Russia has long been the target of Islamist terrorists, with groups such as the Caucasus Emirate and Islamic State carrying out attacks in Chechnya and Dagestan.
Earlier this month, the FSB claimed to have eliminated several IS members plotting an attack on a Jewish centre in Moscow.
‘No sign Ukraine was involved’