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- Written by Paul Kirby & Andre Roden-Paul
- BBC news
Video shows people evacuating inside the venue after multiple gunshots are heard.
At least 93 people were killed and more than 100 injured when armed groups attacked a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, Russian security officials said.
Assailants wearing camouflage uniforms took part in the attack in the northwestern suburbs of Krasnogorsk, according to video footage reviewed by the BBC.
Officials said the 11 people arrested on Saturday included four men directly involved.
A rock concert was about to take place at Crocus Town Hall when armed men burst into the entrance hall and then into the theater itself.
A large part of the building was engulfed in fire and part of the roof collapsed.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as a “terrorist attack”, with children believed to be among the victims.
An unconfirmed statement online said the Islamic State group was behind the attack.
U.S. officials told CBS, the BBC’s U.S. affiliate service, that they had received intelligence indicating that IS intended to attack Russia. The White House announced earlier this month that it had warned Russia of a planned attack on Moscow targeting “large gatherings.”
Russia’s National Guard said it had special forces at the scene to track down the attackers. Russian dignitaries also headed to Krasnogorsk.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Embassy said it was monitoring reports that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow” and urged Americans to avoid large gatherings. issued a warning. The agency updated its advisory Friday night, urging Americans to avoid areas near the site of the attack.
More than 6,000 Russians gathered at Crocus City Hall, a retail and concert complex, to watch a concert by the rock group Picnic. One witness said violence broke out minutes before the band appeared on stage. The Picnic band members themselves were unharmed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to address the nation directly.
Footage shows armed men in the lobby of Crocus Concert Hall
One security guard described how his colleagues were working at the central entrance when heavily armed assailants burst into the front door and fired shots.
“There were three other security guards and they hid behind a billboard,” he told Russian telegraph agency Baza. “And those attackers passed 10 meters [30ft] Once they were away from us, they started firing randomly at the people on the first floor. ”
Inside the auditorium, a woman said she rushed toward the stage with other attendees as soon as she realized gunshots were being fired. She said: “I saw someone with a rifle in the stall, but it was cracked.” [of gunfire] I heard a sound and was about to crawl behind the loudspeaker,” she told Russian television.
Fire and smoke rose into the air, the hall facade was ablaze, and glass was blown out on the building’s top two floors.
The fire appears to have been caused by the attackers throwing some kind of incendiary device.
The man, Vitaliy, said he was on the balcony of a concert theater when he saw the attackers open fire. “They threw petrol bombs and everything started burning. We were led towards the exit. ” he said.
Another witness said children and teens were at the apartment complex at the time of the attack, participating in a ballroom dancing competition.
Some people in the concert hall were able to escape from the stage into the parking lot, while others made their way to the roof, and Russian authorities said about 100 more people fled underground.
Dozens of emergency personnel were immediately sent to the scene and waited outside the Krasnogorsk complex for some time after the attack.
A large-scale emergency operation is underway outside the venue.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin responded by canceling all public events in the capital over the weekend. He said he was “sorry to the loved ones of the victims.”
In the hours that followed, events were also canceled in several other regions, including St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident a “colossal crime” and called on the international community to condemn it.
Ukraine’s government quickly denied any involvement in the attack, which comes more than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighboring country.
“No matter what happens, for Ukraine everything will be decided on the battlefield,” presidential aide Mykhailo Podlyak said on Telegram.
Just six days ago, Vladimir Putin won a fifth term in Russia’s presidential election. The vote did not include any real opposition, and Western countries denounced the election as neither free nor fair.
Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov suggested, without providing evidence, that the attack was a “deliberate provocation by President Putin’s special forces.”
Rescue workers work to extinguish the burning Crocus City Hall
Friday night’s attack was the deadliest attack on civilians in Moscow in recent years, but it was also the worst attack on civilians in the capital in 2002, when 40 Chechen militants took more than 900 people hostage during a performance of the musical “Nordost”. Memories of the theater siege came back.
Russian security services eventually stormed the theater and injected sleeping gas into the hall. Approximately 130 hostages died.
Security is currently being strengthened at airports and train stations.
White House Press Secretary John Kirby said the footage of the shooting was “horrific and painful to watch.”
“Obviously our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific, horrific shooting,” he said.
image source, Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
Russian authorities are searching for the attacker
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