2024-03-24 14:21:54
Russia observes a day of national mourning on Sunday after the massacre in a concert hall in Moscow, the deadliest attack on European soil claimed by the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
The entire country is in mourning with those who lost their loved ones in this inhuman tragedy, Russian public television channel Rossia 24 was told on Sunday morning.
She broadcast images from a huge digital panel installed on the walls of the concert hall where the attack took place: a candle on a black background and the inscription Crocus City Hall. 03/22/2024. We are in mourning…
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A fire was started at Crocus City Hall on Friday.
Photo : Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
Individuals burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday evening, before opening fire with an automatic weapon on the crowd and starting a fire using an flammable liquid, according to investigators, which killed at least least 133 people.
Denouncing a barbaric terrorist act, Vladimir Putin, in a televised address on Saturday, promised to punish the guilty. The Russian president announced that the four perpetrators of the attack had been arrested as they were heading towards Ukraine, without mentioning the Islamic State group’s claim.
The Kremlin earlier announced the arrest of 11 people, including four terrorists involved in the attack. These four foreign citizens were captured in the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine and Belarus, according to the authorities.
This attack, which occurred in a concert hall located in Krasnogorsk, northwest of the Russian capital, is the deadliest in Russia in twenty years, and the bloodiest to have been claimed by the Islamic State group in Europe .
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The death toll stood at 137 dead and 152 injured on Sunday morning, according to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.
Searches in the rubble of the building ravaged by flames and whose roof has partially collapsed are continuing and could take days. Heavy equipment arrived on site Saturday evening to dismantle damaged structures and remove debris, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.
The Islamic State group, which Russia is fighting in Syria and which is also active in the Russian Caucasus, has already carried out attacks in the country since the end of the 2010s. But the group has never claimed responsibility for a large-scale attack there. such magnitude.
Ukraine has no connection whatsoever with the incident
On one of its Telegram accounts, the Islamic State group claimed on Friday evening that the attack had been carried out by four of its members, and was part of the context […] of the war raging between the group and the countries fighting Islam.
According to the Site group, which specializes in anti-terrorism research, a video apparently shot by the attackers of the concert hall near Moscow was broadcast on social media accounts usually used by the IS group.
This one minute 31 second video shows several individuals with blurred faces and garbled voices, armed with assault rifles and knives, in what appears to be the lobby of the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk.
The attackers fired several bursts, numerous inert bodies littered the ground and we could see the start of a fire in the background.
However, neither Vladimir Putin nor the security services (FSB) have accused the jihadist group.
The FSB claimed that the suspects had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side and planned to flee to that country, without providing further details on the nature of these links or proof of their existence.
Ukraine has not the slightest link with the attack, insisted the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, rejecting absurd accusations.
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Members of Russia’s Investigative Committee examine munitions found at the scene of Friday’s deadly attack.
Photo : Reuters / RUSSIAN INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday he hoped that this attack would not become a pretext for an escalation of violence, making a clear reference to Ukraine.
Despite the Islamic State group’s claim, many questions remain unanswered.
According to Russian media and MP Alexander Khinstein, some of the suspects are from Tajikistan. The authorities of this Central Asian country said they had not received confirmation from Russian authorities on this subject.
All day Saturday, dozens of shocked Russians flocked to blood donation centers in Moscow or improvised memorial sites.
On many billboards and at some bus stops in Moscow, posters show a candle on a black background and the inscription: We are in mourning 03/22/2024.
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