Russia says 40 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility
apnews.com
Russia’s Federal Security Service says over 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in an attack at a Moscow concert hall.

Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100 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.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had learned the group’s branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and shared the information with Russian officials.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which state investigators were investigating as terrorism.

The attack, which left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof, was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine dragged into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “huge tragedy.”

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    36·
    8 months ago

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/world/europe/isis-moscow-attack-concert-hall.html

    After a period of relative quiet, the Islamic State has been trying to increase its external attacks, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. Most of those plots in Europe have been thwarted, prompting assessments that the group had diminished capabilities.

    “ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years,” frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. “ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”

    rolls eyes

      • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
        14·
        8 months ago

        Kinda funny how everyone hates the islamists so damn much that even the US and Russia will still pass each other heads ups about possible attacks even while actively fighting a halfway proxy war.

        These fuckers just declared war on everyone and everyone responded with, "Ok, you’re now at war with all of us.’

        • locke@sopuli.xyz
          7·
          8 months ago

          It would be a beautiful world if the all nations joined together in peaceful harmony and started beating the fuck out of islamistic terrorists.

          ♫ Imagine all the people ♫

          • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
            4·
            8 months ago

            Take out the word “islamistic” and I’m on board. That implies that the homegrown Nationalist Christian Terrorists that are attempting a coup in the US can be ignored, and as one of its citizens, I assure you those fuckers need the same treatment.

        • kautau@lemmy.world
          2·
          8 months ago

          Part of the reason it was an embassy announcement. The US gov has a responsibility to protect its citizens. And if they had just passed this quietly to the FSB or something, nothing would have happened, but this both tells US citizens in Russia “yeah probably get out of there” but also puts the ball in Putin’s court in how he responds to the info, it’s a double play

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        7·
        8 months ago

        Nah, I mentioned it in another comment in this thread. We had a press conference and cleared it up. We did warn Russia about an attack earlier in the month, but that was a different one from this one.

        https://lemmy.today/comment/6912150