4 suspects detained, 115 dead in Moscow concert hall attack: Russian authorities

Russian authorities said Saturday that four suspects in connection with Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed 115 people were in custody.

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the Bryansk region have detained four suspects in the attack on the Crocus Town Hall music venue “not far from the border with Ukraine,” the Russian Investigative Committee says. Said In a Telegram post translated from Russian, according to Google Translate.

The current death toll is 115, according to another translated telegram post from the investigating authorities. Said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, and Russia’s Federal Security Service said multiple gunmen opened fire on the concert hall. Video footage from the concert hall shows three gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms and using automatic weapons.

A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. government agencies have confirmed that Islamic State was behind the Moscow attack.

National Security Adviser John Kirby said Friday that footage of the attack was “difficult to watch,” even as some Russian lawmakers blamed Ukraine for the attack, according to the Associated Press. However, he said there was no evidence that Ukrainians were involved.

“The images are simply horrific. It’s just painful to look at, and obviously our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific, horrific shooting,” Kirby said Friday. “At this time, there is no indication that Ukraine or Ukrainian nationals were involved in the shooting.”

Mykhailo Podlyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, also denied claims that his country was behind Friday’s attack. post on Platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting and explosion at Crocus City Hall (Moscow region, Russia),” Podolyak said in the post. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“First of all, Ukraine has been fighting Russian forces for more than two years. And everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield,” Podoljak continued. “Only by quantitative and qualitative military decisions of weapons. Terrorist attacks do not solve any problems…”