It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim the Islamic State made on social media.
Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.
The Kremlin said Putin was informed minutes after the assailants burst into Crocus City Hall, a large music venue on Moscow’s western edge that can accommodate 6,200 people. The prosecutor’s office said several men in combat fatigues entered the concert hall and fired on concertgoers.“There were volleys of gunfire,” Primov told the AP. “We all got up and tried to move toward the aisles. People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”
However, U.S. intelligence officials confirmed the claim by the Islamic State group's branch based in Afghanistan that it was responsible for the Moscow attack, a U.S. official told the AP. On March 7, Russia’s top security agency said it thwarted an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an Islamic State cell, killing several of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days earlier, Russian authorities said six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia in Russia’s Caucasus region.
The Kremlin didn’t immediately blame anyone for the attack, but some Russian lawmakers were quick to accuse Ukraine and called for ramping up strikes. Hours before the attack, the Russian military l aunched a sweeping barrage on Ukraine’s power system, crippling the country’s biggest hydroelectric plant and other energy facilities and leaving more than a million people without electricity.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Russia says it thwarted Islamic State plot to attack Moscow synagogueRussia’s FSB security service said Thursday it had killed Islamic State militants who were planning a “terrorist attack” on a Moscow synagogu...
Read more »
Islamic State group claims responsibility for Moscow attack in social media statementThe Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Moscow in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media.
Read more »
Islamic State group claims responsibility for attack in Moscow; at least 40 deadRussia’s state RIA Novosti news agency reported that several gunmen fired shots at a concert hall in Moscow on Friday, wounding several people.
Read more »
Islamic State claims responsibility for Moscow attack in statementIt was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim the Islamic State made on social media.
Read more »
Gunmen kill 40, injure 145 in attack at concert near Moscow; Islamic State claims responsibilityAt least 40 people were killed and 145 wounded on Friday when camouflage-clad gunmen fired with automatic weapons on concertgoers near Moscow in one of the deadliest attacks on Russia in decades.
Read more »
Moscow concert venue shooting attack responsibility claimed by Islamic State via ISIS-affiliated account on TelegramThis is additional taxonomy that helps us with analytics
Read more »