2024-03-24 15:00:00
Mourning in Russia for those killed in the concert hall attack
Russia lowered flags at half-staff on Sunday on a day of mourning after dozens were killed by automatic weapons fire at a rock concert on the outskirts of the capital, Moscow, in the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades.
According to Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a day of mourning after vowing to track down and punish everyone behind the attack, which left 133 people dead, including three children, and also resulted in more than 150 being injured.
“I offer my deepest, most sincere condolences to all those who lost their loved ones,” Putin said in a speech to the nation on Saturday, his first public comment on the attack. “The entire country and our entire people are in pain, like you.”
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred on Friday, but Putin did not publicly refer to the extremist organization when speaking about the attackers. Rather, he said that they had tried to flee to Ukraine, stressing that some on the “Ukrainian side” were preparing to smuggle them across the border.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack, which Putin also blamed on “international terrorism.”
People laid flowers in front of the 6,200-seat Crocus City Concert Hall, located on the outskirts of Moscow, which was stormed by four gunmen on Friday before the Soviet-era rock band Picnic performed its hit song “Afrid of Nothing.” “I’m afraid of something.”
The attackers fired automatic weapons in short bursts at the terrified civilians, who fell and began screaming amid a hail of bullets.
This is the deadliest attack on Russian soil since the Beslan school siege in 2004, when Islamic militants took more than a thousand hostages, including hundreds of children.
Long queues lined up in Moscow to donate blood. Blood banks said on Sunday that they now have a supply of blood sufficient for four to six months.
Billboards across Moscow bore an image of a single candle, the date of the attack, and the phrase “in mourning.” In other cities, people laid flowers.
Countries around the world expressed their shock at the attack and offered their condolences to the Russian people.
Advertisement banners across Moscow carried an image of a single candle, the date of the attack, and the phrase “in mourning” (Reuters)
Armed
Putin said that 11 people were arrested, including the four gunmen who fled from the concert hall and headed to the Bryansk region, about 340 kilometers southwest of Moscow.
He added: “They tried to hide and head towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, there were preparations on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”
The Russian State Information Agency said that the suspects in the shooting at the Crocus City hall were brought in for investigation at the headquarters of the Investigative Committee in Moscow.
The Russian Federal Security Service said that the militants had contacts in Ukraine and were arrested near the border.
Local news agencies reported that the suspects may appear in court later in the day.
Putin ordered a comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking a major war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on the one hand, and Russian-backed Ukrainians and pro-Russian forces on the other.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it is usual for Putin “and other bandits” to seek to keep the finger of blame away from them.
The Amaq Agency, affiliated with ISIS, said via Telegram that the organization claimed responsibility for the attack. The extremist organization at one time controlled vast areas of Iraq and Syria. The organization posted on its Telegram channel on Saturday evening what it said were footage of the attack.
In video footage published by Russian media and Telegram channels with close links to the Kremlin, one of the suspects said that he was offered money to carry out the attack.
The suspect, who was handcuffed while one of the investigators held his hair, said in broken Russian and with a heavy accent: “I shot people.”
In response to a question about the reason, he said: “For money.” The man added that he had been promised half a million rubles (a little more than five thousand dollars).
One of the suspects appeared answering questions through a Tajik translator. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon phoned Putin about the attack.
“ISIS”
The White House said that the US government informed Russia of information early this month about a planned attack in Moscow, and also issued general guidance to Americans in Russia on March 7. He added: “ISIS alone bears responsibility for this attack.”
“There is absolutely no Ukrainian involvement,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council.
Russian officials expressed anger at US public comments about the attack, and said the matter should be left to Russian investigators to reach their own conclusions.
The United States and other Western countries whose relations with Moscow were strained due to the war in Ukraine sent messages of condolence to the Russian people.
If the attack was carried out by ISIS, it is not clear why the organization chose this time to carry out the attack in Russia.
Putin turned the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015; In support of President Bashar al-Assad in the face of armed opposition groups and ISIS.
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