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full screen A child leaves a teddy bear by a fence surrounding the building where at least 130 people were killed by camouflaged men with automatic weapons on Friday night. Photo: Vitaly Smolnikov/AP/TT
At least 133 people have been confirmed dead in the terrorist attack on a concert venue in Moscow on Friday. This is what we know about the incident.
A group of camouflaged men opened fire on patrons at a concert hall in Moscow on Friday night.
A heavy fire broke out in the venue, which can accommodate just over 6,000 people. Around 14,000 square meters have burned down, according to Russian authorities.
The number of dead is reported on Saturday evening to be at least 133. According to Russian media, children are among the victims.
The information on the number of injured varies, but according to authority sources it is over a hundred people, many of whom are in a critical condition.
Several arrested
Eleven people are said to have been arrested, some after a car chase, Russian state-run media reports with reference to the Kremlin’s press service.
According to the authorities, among them are the four who opened fire in the concert hall in Moscow on Friday evening.
IS claims responsibility
The Islamic terrorist group IS has claimed responsibility. It is the terrorist sect’s Afghan branch, IS-K or IS Khorasan, that is believed to be behind the attack, writes The New York Times, among other things, with reference to American intelligence sources.
IS is said to have posted a video purporting to show the attack on a social media account that, according to the Site intelligence group, belongs to the IS media channel Amaq.
Earlier this week, two Afghan citizens in Germany, belonging to IS-K, were arrested on suspicion of having planned an attack on Sweden’s parliament.
The terrorist group is behind several bloody attacks – including the suicide bomb at Kabul airport in August 2021 when at least 169 people were killed.
Accusing Ukraine
Several Russian politicians, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, were quick to accuse Ukraine of being involved in the crime.
Ukraine’s presidential office responded that Kiev has nothing to do with the attack.
“Let me be clear: Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with this incident. We are waging a full-scale war against Russia’s military and with the Russian Federation as a country. Everything will be decided on the battlefield,” President Zelensky’s advisor Mychajlo Podoljak wrote on Telegram.