March 22, 2024, 4:52 p.m. ET
March 22, 2024, 4:52 p.m. ET
A number of camouflage-clad gunmen opened fireplace at a well-liked live performance venue on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday night time, killing a minimum of 40 folks and wounding greater than 100, Russia’s high safety company stated, based on state information businesses, which might make it the deadliest assault within the capital area in years.
As gunshots boomed via the constructing containing the live performance corridor, one of many largest and hottest music venues within the Moscow space, fireplace erupted within the higher flooring of the construction, and the blaze intensified after an explosion, the information company RIA Novosti reported.
A number of movies posted on social media and verified by The New York Instances present a number of folks getting into the venue, Crocus Metropolis Corridor — a sprawling buying and leisure advanced in suburban Krasnogorsk, northwest of Moscow — and firing rifles. Different movies present folks working previous bloodied victims mendacity on the ground or screaming on the sound of gunshots, whereas photographs present our bodies lined up exterior the constructing.
A lady who gave her identify solely as Marina stated in a textual content message that she was standing in line for a live performance exterior, within the chilly, about 8 p.m. when folks with out overcoats began working out of the constructing, saying that they had heard pictures.
“As quickly as I heard automated rifle pictures I began working, too,” she stated.
The state information company TASS reported that emergency providers had dispatched helicopters to attempt to rescue folks from the constructing’s roof, the place flames and smoke could possibly be seen billowing into the night time sky. The roof close to the live performance stage was collapsing round 10 p.m. native time, RIA Novosti reported.
There was no report of who is likely to be accountable for the assault or whether or not any of them had been caught or killed, however state media businesses reported that there had been as much as 5 perpetrators. Information businesses attributed the casualty figures to the F.S.B. safety company.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s equal to the F.B.I., stated it had opened a prison case right into a terrorist act and dispatched its investigators to the positioning. RIA Novosti stated {that a} particular police unit was working contained in the constructing.
John Kirby, a spokesman for President Biden’s Nationwide Safety Council, informed reporters that the White Home had “no indication at the moment that Ukraine or Ukrainians have been concerned.” Mykhailo Podolyak, a high adviser to Ukraine’s presidential workplace, stated in a video assertion that “Ukraine has completely nothing to do” with the assault.
Alina Lobzina contributed reporting.
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