Russia concert hall attack: Children among more than 100 killed by gunmen in massacre near Moscow
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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Suspects arrested after car chase
Footage taken inside the auditorium showed several insurgents firing automatic weapons as people crouched and hid behind seats.
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.
Thick black smoke rises into the sky from the Crocus City Hall concert venue. Pic: AP
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.”
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.
Analysis:
Kyiv worries Putin will exploit bloodshed to escalate war
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”.
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.”
Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.
Vladimir Putin during his visit in the Kursk region on Tuesday. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Mr Putin visited a nuclear power plant. Pic: Kremlin.ru/Reuters
Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.
More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.
The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.
The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.
The Russian president met with volunteer organisations. Pic: Kremlin News/Telegram
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.
The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.
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But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.
Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.
Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.
The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.
Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.
Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.
Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.
“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”
Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.
A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.
Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.
Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.
Japan’s agriculture minister has resigned after saying he has “never had to buy rice” while the country struggles with shortages and rising costs of its staple grain.
Taku Eto offered his resignation to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday after he made the comments at a party seminar on Sunday.
Mr Eto said his supporters have always gifted him rice, meaning he does not have to buy it himself.
His comments immediately sparked a public backlash.
“I made an extremely inappropriate remark at a time when consumers are struggling with soaring rice prices,” Mr Eto told reporters after handing in his resignation at the prime minister’s office.
He told the Kyodo news agency: “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not.
“Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.”
Opposition parties had threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against him if Mr Eto did not resign voluntarily by Wednesday afternoon.
Japan has been struggling with rice shortages since hot weather resulted in a poor harvest in 2023.
The Japanese government’s emergency rice reserves in Saitama Prefecture in March. Pic: AP
More recently, a government preparedness warning ahead of a major earthquake last August prompted panic buying – squeezing supplies even further.
Politicians have also blamed the rising cost of fertiliser and other related goods.
The crisis has seen the government release vast quantities of rice from its emergency stockpiles for the first time.
In April, Japan also imported the grain from South Korea for the first time in 25 years in a further bid to boost supplies and lower prices.
But shelf prices have continued to rise, reaching 4,268 yen (£22) per 5kg in the week to 11 May – double what it was a year ago.
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Mr Eto has been replaced by Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister who ran unsuccessfully against the prime minister for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last year.
The rice crisis is placing further strain on Mr Ishiba’s minority government – ahead of the country’s upcoming elections in July.
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