MOSCOW: At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 injured when five gunmen dressed in camouflage opened fire with automatic weapons at people at a concert in Crocus City Hall near Moscow, in one of the worst such attacks in Russia in years.

As flames leapt into the sky and plumes of black smoke rose above the venue, Russian media reported a second blast at the venue and there were reports that some of the gunmen had barricaded themselves somewhere in the building.

The shooting appeared to have begun at a concert of a band known as “Picnic”. “Suddenly there were bangs behind us _ shots. A burst of firing _ I do not know what,” one witness said.

“A stampede began, everyone ran to the escalator,” the witness said. “Everyone was screaming, everyone was running.”

The shooting began days after President Vladimir Putin was re-elected for a new six-year term and as Russia intensified strikes in Ukraine.

State news agency TASS cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying 40 people had been killed and more than 100 wounded.

The FSB said all necessary measures were being taken.

It was not immediately clear who the gunmen were. Russian news agencies said 70 ambulance crews had been sent to the scene.

“A terrible tragedy occurred in the shopping centre Crocus City today,” Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. “I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims.” Russia tightened security at airports and stations and across the capital _ a vast urban area of over 21 million people.

The foreign ministry in Moscow said it was a “bloody terrorist attack”. “The entire world community is obliged to condemn this monstrous crime,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“All efforts are being thrown at saving people.”

Shooting people

In one unverified video posted on social media, men with automatic weapons were shown firing repeatedly at screaming civilians, including women, who were cowering below what looked like an entrance sign to “Crocus City Hall”.

Other video footage showed a number of people lying motionless in pools of blood outside the hall. Another video showed the attackers shooting at people in the concert hall.

The White House said images of shooting in the Russian capital were hard to watch.

“The images are just horrible and just hard to watch and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.

The US embassy in Moscow warned earlier this month that “extremists” had imminent plans for an attack.

It issued its warning several hours after the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had foiled an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by a cell of the militant Islamic State group.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2024