More than 60 people were killed and 115 injured in the evening of Friday March 22, 2024 in an armed attack claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) and which targeted a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow,
Around 8:15 p.m. in Moscow, an assault was led by several armed individuals at the Crocus City Hall, a concert hall located in Krasnogorsk, at the northwest exit of the Russian capital, the Russian media immediately reported. Then the attacked building was plagued by a large fire.
Several gusts of machine guns and cries were heard on the scene before crowd movements of spectators wanting to escape.
According to a journalist from the Ria Novosti public news agency, individuals in camouflage outfit burst into the floor of the concert hall before opening the fire and launching “a grenade or a incendiary bomb, which caused a fire”. The flames spread to nearly 13,000 m2 of the building before the fire is contained, depending on the emergency services.
According to the Russian ministry for emergency situations, firefighters managed to evacuate a hundred people who were in the basement of the room while the Ministry of Health, a provisional assessment of 115 hospitalized people, including five children, announced. Sixty adults and a minor among these injured are in serious condition.
Russian police said they were “looking for” attackers and the authorities warned that the results of the attack “may increase”.
IS, which has already targeted Russia several times, said on one of its Telegram accounts that its fighters “attacked a large gathering (…) in the vicinity of the Russian capital Moscow”. The jihadist organization said that its commando then “safely returned to its base”.
Ukrainian military intelligence has accused “Russian special services” of being behind the attack in Moscow in order to “accuse Ukraine and cause” climbing “and” extend “its assault against its neighbor.
The American Embassy in Russia had warned its citizens two weeks ago, which it “followed by the information according to which extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts”.
Tunisia condemns
It should be recalled that the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed the entire solidarity of Tunisia with the Russian Federation after this drama and presented its condolences to power, the Russian people and the families of the victims.
