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Three children are among more than 100 people killed after gunmen entered a concert venue near Moscow and opened fired on the crowd – with Islamic State claiming responsibility for the atrocity.

The attackers, wearing combat fatigues, also threw explosives causing a huge blaze at the 6,200-seat Crocus City Hall in the city of Krasnogorsk, 15 miles to the west of the capital.

The number of dead has risen to 133, Russia’s investigative committee said on Saturday and added this was likely to rise further.

At least 145 people were also injured in the assault on Friday evening, shortly before the Soviet-era rock group Picnic was due to perform. Of those more than 100 remain in hospital.

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Footage taken inside the auditorium showed several insurgents firing automatic weapons as people crouched and hid behind seats.

A Russian National Guard serviceman in front of Crocus City Hall. Pic: AP
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The attack triggered a major fire that engulfed the building. Pic: AP

Video footage also showed concert-goers fleeing for the exits as the sound of shooting echoed over screams.

Russian investigators have published pictures of a Kalashnikov automatic weapon, ammunition vests with multiple spare magazines and bags of spent bullet casings.

In the aftermath, flames leapt into the sky, and plumes of black smoke rose above the venue as hundreds of blue lights
from emergency vehicles illuminated the night.

Helicopters sought to douse the fire that engulfed the building and caused parts of the roof to collapse.

It was not immediately clear what happened to the militants after the raid, but Russian politician Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram two suspects were detained in the Bryansk region following a car chase.

The FSB has since said as many as 11 suspects have been detained in total, via the Russian state news agency, Tass. Four of the arrested suspects are thought to have been directly involved in the attack, the FSB believe.

A massive blaze is seen at the Crocus City Hall. Pic: AP
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Thick black smoke rises into the sky from the Crocus City Hall concert venue. Pic: AP

A view of the Crocus City Hall burned after a terrorist attack is seen on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing and injuring multiple people and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)
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Daylight revealed the extent of the damage. Pic: AP

Putin dismisses US warnings as ‘blackmail’

A US official said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.

National Security Council spokesman Adrienne Watson said: “Earlier this month, the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow – potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts – which prompted the State Department to issue a public advisory to Americans in Russia.

“The US government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy.”

In this photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Saturday, March 23, 2024, a Kalashnikov assault rifle lies on the ground as Investigators from the Investigative Committee of Russia together with the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, work the scene after a terrorist attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)
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A Kalashnikov assault rifle lies on the floor in the wake of the deadly raid. Pic: AP

The attack comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin told the board of the Federal Security Service that “Western structures” had been engaging in “outright blackmail” when they warned Moscow of potential terrorist attacks.

He has repeatedly warned foreign powers were seeking to sow chaos inside Russia.

While US intelligence has confirmed Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the massacre, Russia has yet to say who it thinks is responsible.

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Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was a “bloody terrorist attack” that the entire world should
condemn.

The US was among many countries to express condolences, while Ukraine has denied any involvement.

The United Nations Security Council has condemned what it called a “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack”.

Russian authorities stand guard. Pic: Reuters
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Security was tightened across the capital following the atrocity. Pic: Reuters

Why would Islamic State attack Russia?

Friday’s attack was not the first time Russia has been targeted by Islamist terror, but it was the deadliest in the country since the 2004 Beslan school siege – when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage.

In October 2002, Chechen militants took around 800 people hostage at a theatre in Moscow which was stormed by Russian special forces two days later, leaving 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters dead, most from the effects of the gas Russian forces used to subdue the attackers.

The latest atrocity follows Russia’s intervention against Islamic State in recent years.

Mr Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al Assad
against the opposition and IS.

In recent weeks the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by an IS affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-K, which has frequently criticised the Russian leader in its propaganda.

IS claimed its insurgents had attacked the concert venue on Friday “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely”.

In response to the outrage, Russia tightened security at airports and transport hubs across the capital, while all major public events were cancelled nationwide.

Mr Putin, who was re-elected for a new six-year term as president on Sunday after a controversial vote, is being regularly updated on the attack response, according to the Kremlin.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said: “A terrible tragedy occurred in the shopping centre Crocus City today.

“I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims.”

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

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Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
Image:
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

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US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

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General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

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Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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