Russia has detained 11 people in connection with a terrorist attack Friday evening at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, a suburb of Moscow.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech that among the 11 were all four
Gunman suspected of carrying out what called a “shooting massacre.” “They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,” Putin said. Neither Putin nor Russia’s FSB security service has provided any evidence to the public of a link between the accused terrorists and , which Russian invaded just over two years ago. promised to punish those responsible for the attack. “All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished. Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them,” Putin said, according to Reuters. “We will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this strike against
Russia, against our people.” Though the FSB also said that the suspects had “contacts in Ukraine,” Ukrainian
MILITARY intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told Reuters that that was “of course another lie from the Russian special services.” “Ukraine was of course not involved in this
terror attack.
Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its own territory and is fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians,” he said. Another unnamed Ukrainian official called the accusation of Ukrainian involvement “absurd,” the reported. “According to an unverified statement online, militant group
Islamic State said it was behind the attack,” the outlet reported. “The
United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the shooting, a U.S. official said,” according to Reuters. “The official, speaking on condition of anonymity said
Washington had warned
Moscow ‘appropriately’ in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.” On Saturday, the released a photograph of four men it claimed were the four gunmen. Russia’s state Investigative Committee said that 133 people were killed , but the city’s governor said that number was expected to “rise significantly” as emergency crews continue to sift through the charred remains of the concert hall, the roof of which was engulfed in a
fire as the
shooting occurred. Investigators said the shooters carried cans of gasoline into the venue in rucksacks and used it to start the blaze. It was not yet known how many victims had been shot and how many died in the first, but one outlet reported that among the dead, “Many mothers were found embracing their children.” “Russian authorities said at least 145 people had been injured, with 16 people in a ‘critical state,'” reported. Putin has declared Sunday a day of mourning for the victims of the attack. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism.