Moscow attack: Terrorists had contacts in Ukraine, says report as toll rises to 115.
Russian authorities claimed on Saturday that the terrorists involved in the attack on Moscow concert hall or Crocus City Hall “tried to sneak away towards the Russian-Ukrainian border,” the Federal Security Service was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.
The terrorists planned to cross the border and had contracts on the Ukrainian side,” the report said, adding that the attack was “thoroughly planned”. However, Russia has not made public any evidence of a Ukrainian connection.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Saturday the number of people killed in the attack on a Moscow concert hall rose to 115. Meanwhile, 11 people — including all four assailants — were arrested over Friday’s deadly attack on a concert hall.
The head of the FSB security service informed Russian President Vladimir Putin “about the detention of 11 people, including all four terrorists directly involved in carrying out the attack,” Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying in a statement.
Moscow shooting
The shooting took place on Friday evening at Crocus City Hall, a concert venue just west of Moscow where a Soviet-era rock band was due to perform. Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers.
According to news agency AFP, verified video showed people taking their seats in the hall, then rushing for the exits as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Another video showed men shooting at groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.
“Suddenly there were bangs behind us – shots. A burst of firing – I do not know what,” one witness, who asked not to be identified by name, told Reuters.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Amaq agency said on Telegram. The group said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely”. The statement gave no further detail, as per Reuters.
“The death toll is expected to rise,” the Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes in Russia, said on Telegram.