Gunmen attacked a concert hall in Moscow, slaying more than 100 people and wounding countless others. Police and security services were mobilized throughout Moscow to hunt down the gunmen, yielding to 11 arrests.
ISIS claimed the attack, which follows its style of attack. In November 2015, ISIS gunmen committed a similar act when it gunned over a hundred people at a concert and suicide bombed several locations in Paris. The NY Post says:
Eleven people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow and opened fire on the crowd, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated social media channels, although neither the Kremlin nor Russian security services have officially assigned blame for the attack.
Conspiracies have already started blaming all sides for the attack, despite no proof being released yet. Some Russians were blaming Ukrainian, American, and Western secret services as a way to undermine Russia’s war effort. Some in the West blamed it on a false flag operation, where Putin would have ordered the killing to prop up his rule and justify additional war measures. Fox News continues:
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied any Ukrainian involvement before ISIS claimed responsibility.
“Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall (Moscow Region, Russia). It makes no sense whatsoever,” he said on social media, adding, in part, “there is not the slightest doubt that the events in the Moscow suburbs will contribute to a sharp increase in military propaganda, accelerated militarization, expanded mobilization, and, ultimately, the scaling up of the war. And also to justify manifest genocidal strikes against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
The truth is, ISIS probably did commit this act on its own. It has been fighting Russian troops in Syria for a decade, and has declared the entire world its enemy. How Russia responds to this, and whether it believes that Ukraine had a hand in this, could have major repercussions for international events.
Video of one of the shooters’ initial interrogation:
Interrogation of one of the detainees in the Bryansk region, suspected of carrying out a terrorist attack at Crocus Hall.
— Russian Market (@runews) March 23, 2024
According to law enforcement officers, the individual from Tajikistan appeared visibly shaken during the interrogation, and they reported that he attempted… pic.twitter.com/SmXd3GdUZL
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