Photo by Artur Rehi on X
Moscow/New York/Washington: After camouflaged terrorists killed at least 133 people and injured over 145 others in indiscriminate gunfire with automatic weapons, ahead of a sold-out rock concert at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow at around 8 pm local time on March 22, 2024, the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) claimed the responsibility of the attack through its Amaq agency on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the four perpetrators “directly involved in the terrorist attack”, were heading towards Ukraine. There, Putin stated that according to “preliminary information, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border”.
Putin, who was informed about the shooting at the Crocus City Hall in the first minutes of the attack, said all four perpetrators were found and apprehended. A total of 11 people were detained and the Federal Security Service and other law enforcement agencies were working to identify and expose the accomplice base behind these terrorists: those who provided them with transport, planned escape routes from the crime scene, and prepared caches with weapons and ammunition.
In a public address, Putin informed that additional anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage measures have been introduced in Moscow, the Moscow Region, and all regions of Russia. “Our top priority now is to prevent those behind this bloody massacre from committing another crime,” he said.
Putin said while the investigative and law enforcement agencies would spare no effort to establish all the details of this crime, however, “it is already clear that we are confronted not simply with a carefully and cynically planned terrorist attack, but a premeditated and organised mass murder of peaceful, defenceless people”. He pointed out that the perpetrators “cold-bloodedly and deliberately targeted our citizens, including our children, with the intent to kill them at close range. Like the Nazis who once carried out massacres in the occupied territories, they planned to stage a demonstrative execution, a bloody act of intimidation”.
He assured Russians that all perpetrators, organisers and masterminds of this crime would face “fair and inevitable” punishment.” I emphasise once more: we will identify and bring to justice each and every individual who stands behind these terrorists, those who orchestrated this atrocity, this assault against Russia and our people,” he asserted.
“We understand what the terrorist threat means. In this regard, we rely on cooperation with all states that sincerely share our pain and are ready to really join forces in the fight against a common enemy, international terrorism and all its manifestations,” he said. He declared that “No force will be able to sow the poisonous seeds of discord, panic or disunity in our multi-ethnic society”.The attack was one of the deadliest attacks on Russian soil in decades.
In New York today, at Russia’s initiative, the UN Security Council adopted a statement strongly condemning the “heinous and cowardly” terrorist attack in the Moscow Region”. UN Secretary-General Antònio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack “in the strongest possible terms” and expressed his condolences to the people and Government of Russia. In telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mali and Türkiye expressed their condolences.
Russian security services and law enforcement agencies were investigating the incident. “The perpetrators, organisers and masterminds will be brought to justice, and appropriate legal and political assessments will be provided,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, stated today in Moscow.
Experts said one of the reasons for the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of the larger Islamic State militant group, which emerged in eastern Afghanistan in 2014, could be linked to Russia’s military interventions in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, where Putin dispatched troops to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fight against ISIS and other extremist groups. Russian media reports claimed that the gunmen were citizens of Tajikistan. The
United States today “strongly condemned” the deadly ISIS-K terrorist attack in Moscow. “We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and all affected by this heinous crime. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and stand in solidarity with the people of Russia in grieving the loss of life from this horrific event,” a release from US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken read in Washington.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while “strongly” condemning the “heinous terrorist attack in Moscow”, said that “India stands in solidarity with the government and the people of the Russian Federation in this hour of grief”.
– global bihari bureau
