An #explosion rocked a concert hall in the Moscow region & several #gunmen opened fire on theatergoers Fri evening, acc/to Russian authorities & videos from the scene, a deadly attack >1 week after #Putin was re-elected.
The #Russia Prosecutor Gen's Office said "Unidentified people in camouflage broke into Crocus City Hall & started shooting before the start of the concert" via TASS.
RIA Novosti: 3 men "opened fire w/automatic weapons" & "threw a grenade or an incendiary bomb, which started a fire" in the hall. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/europe/crocus-moscow-shooting?cid=ios_app
The #Kremlin has yet to comment on the attack. But a speech by #Putin to #Russia’s domestic #intelligence agency, the #FSB, on Tues now looms large. He had dismissed the #UnitedStates#Embassy’s earlier #SecurityAlert about a possible #TerroristAttack in #Moscow as “obvious blackmail.” He had also claimed, w/o evidence, that #Ukraine was seeking to carry out attacks inside Russia “in places where people gather in large numbers.”
The fire set off by the attack has been almost completely destroyed the top floor of the #CrocusCityHall. But the blaze has since decreased sharply, acc/to #TASS, a Russian #StateMedia agency.
Again a reminder that #Russia controls all reported information, so be wary of #disinformation.
Recall that the 1999 attacks on #Moscow residential apartment buildings were how Putin came to power, it’s been a long held belief that #Putin & #FSB were behind the attacks to create a mass mobilization behind Putin who just a month prior was unknown.
@Nonilex "long held belief"... yeah how abut we call a spade a spade and say to the whole world and especially #Russia that NO ONE is duped and that #Putin is ready to sacrifice anything to win this. He will set up terrorists attacks everywhere to be able to point the finger at a country and play the victim. This man is evil incarnate. He DGAF about killing anyone or anything at anytime anywhere.
The #UnitedStates#Embassy in #Moscow issued a #security alert on Mar 7, warning that its personnel were “monitoring reports that #extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts.”
The statement warned Americans that an attack could take place in the next 48 hrs.
Pro-Kremlin voices seized on the #UnitedStates Embassy’s warning to paint America as trying to scare Russians. On Mar 19, Pres #Putin of #Russia called the stmnt “obvious blackmail” made w/“the intention to intimidate & destabilize our society.”
#ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack at a popular concert venue complex near #Moscow Friday that left at least 40 dead & >100 wounded after assailants stormed the venue w/guns & incendiary devices.
The #terror group took responsibility for the attack in a short statement published by ISIS-affiliated news agency #Amaq on Telegram on Fri. The group did not provide evidence to support the claim.
The #US collected #intelligence in March that Islamic State-#Khorasan, known as #ISISK, the branch of the group based in #Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on #Moscow, acc/to ofcls. ISIS members have been active in #Russia, one US ofcl said.
After a period of relative quiet, the #IslamicState has been trying to increase its external attacks, acc/to #US#counterterrorism ofcls. Most of those plots in #Europe have been thwarted, prompting assessments that the group had diminished capabilities.
“#ISISK has been fixated on #Russia for the past 2 years,” frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. #Putin in its #propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a #security consulting firm based in NY.
The attack on Fri in #Moscow, like a Jan assault in #Iran claimed by the grp, could prompt a reassessment of its ability to strike outside its home territory.
In addition to a public warning on Mar 7 about a possible attack, #US ofcls had privately told Russian ofcls about #intelligence pointing to an impending #attack.
The #US had warned #Iran of a possible #attack ahead of twin #bombings in Jan that killed ≥103 people & wounded 211 others at a memorial service for Iran’s fmr top general, Qassim #Suleimani, who was killed by a US #drone strike 4 yrs before.
The attack appeared to be one of the deadliest in #Russia in decades. The deadliest was the Beslan school siege of 2004, when >330 people were killed as Chechen militants,who took >1k people hostage, battled Russian forces in a school in south Russia. …militants seized a crowded #Moscow theater in 2002; >100 hostages died in that standoff, after Russian special forces pumped an aerosolized fentanyl into the theater in an attempt to incapacitate the gunmen.
At least 115 people have been hospitalized from the attack on the #Moscow concert hall, 5 of them children, acc/to the Russian minister of health, Mikhail Murashko. Another 30 were treated & released.
The injured include 60 adult patients in serious condition, the minister said.
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