The Kremlin said that all four assailants were in custody. U.S. officials attributed the attack, one of the deadliest in Russia in decades, to ISIS-K, a branch of Islamic State that has been active in Iran and Afghanistan. The death toll from an assault on a sold-out rock concert near Moscow climbed to at least 115 people on Saturday, as the Russian authorities announced arrests and new details emerged about the deadliest attack on the capital region for more than a decade. The attack began at around 8 p.m. local time on Friday, when camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire in a popular concert venue, minutes before a veteran rock band was to start playing. Social media videos verified by The New York Times showed screaming concertgoers rushing past bloodied victims sprawled on the floor. As gunshots boomed, fire erupted in the structure’s upper floors. Russia’s Investigative Committee said Saturday that the attackers had used automatic weapons and explosives, and set the concert hall on fire with “a flammable liquid” while people were still inside. (…) The Islamic State, through an affiliated news agency, claimed responsibility on Friday for the attack. U.S. security officials said they believed it was carried out by a branch of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Khorasan, or ISIS-K, which has been active in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. But there were some signs that Russia might try to pin blame for the attack on Ukraine, despite the claim of responsibility. The F.S.B., Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, issued a statement saying that the attackers had planned to escape to Ukraine “and had contacts on the Ukrainian side,” according to the Russian state media. Kyiv has denied any involvement, saying that suggestions to the contrary were an attempt to rally support for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. American officials have said there is no evidence that Ukraine played a role.
via nyt: Death Toll Rises to 115 in Moscow Concert Hall Attack
siehe auch: Nach Anschlag bei Moskau mit 143 Toten: Russische Behörden melden elf Festnahmen – darunter vier „Terroristen“ Bewaffnete haben in einer Konzerthalle bei Moskau dutzende Menschen getötet, viele weitere wurden verletzt, darunter auch Kinder. Der IS reklamierte den Anschlag für sich. Was über den Angriff bekannt ist. Nach dem Angriff auf die Konzerthalle in Krasnogorsk bei Moskau mit mindestens 143 Toten sind nach russischen Angaben inzwischen elf Menschen festgenommen worden. Darunter seien vier Personen, die im Verdacht stünden, direkt in den Angriff verwickelt gewesen zu sein, meldet die Nachrichtenagentur Interfax unter Berufung auf den Kreml. Man sei dabei, weitere Komplizen zu identifizieren. Präsident Wladimir Putin sei über die Festnahmen vom Inlandsgeheimdienst FSB informiert worden. „FSB-Direktor Bortnikov berichtete Putin über die Inhaftierung von elf Personen, darunter alle vier Terroristen, die direkt an dem Terroranschlag beteiligt waren“, sagte der Pressedienst des Präsidenten; Russia arrests suspected gunmen as concert death toll soars to 143. Russia said on Saturday it had arrested 11 people including four suspected gunmen in connection with a shooting rampage that killed 143 people in a concert hall near Moscow, the deadliest attack in Russia for 20 years. Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack but there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link, despite emphatic denials from Ukrainian officials that Kyiv had anything to do with it. The FSB security service said “all four terrorists” had been arrested while heading to the Ukrainian border, and that they had contacts in Ukraine. It said they were being transferred to Moscow. “Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from pursuit – Ukraine,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, said that if Ukraine was involved, then Russia must deliver a “worthy, clear and concrete” reply on the battlefield. Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told Reuters: “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 the FSB version that the suspects were arrested en route to Ukraine was “of course another lie from the Russian special services”. Russian state TV editor Margarita Simonyan published a video of one of the suspects, a young bearded man, being interrogated by the side of a road. She said the death toll had climbed to 143 but did not give the source of her information.
