Moscow concert hall attack news: At least 133 killed, over 100 wounded

The blog is now closed. Thanks for following our coverage of the Moscow attack.

You can read about who is to blame here.

Here is our summary of the reactions from around the world.

Our explainer on the group that claimed responsibility for the attack can be found here.

We will be closing the blog soon. Here are some of the main developments from our coverage of the Moscow attack:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed the Russian nation, calling the attack a “barbaric terrorist act” and declaring Sunday, March 24, a national day of mourning.
• The four suspected attackers, who are all in custody, are all foreign citizens, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry.
• Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that “there are 107 patients in medical institutions, of which three children – one child is in extremely serious condition, two children are in serious condition”.
• The military intelligence spokesman, Andriy Yusov, said claims that Moscow attack suspects fled to the border with Ukraine, where they had “contacts”, was “another lie from the Russian special services”.

Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow:

The Crocus City Hall has become the deadliest attack since the Beslan school siege 20 years ago, when armed men demanding the independence of Chechnya killed 334 people after taking 1,100 hostages for three days.

The death toll will most likely keep rising as emergency services clear the rubble and inspect the premises of the hall. There were more than 200 people when the roof collapsed and more bodies are expected to be found.

According to Russia’s FSB security service, the attack was carefully planned and the weapons were stashed in advance.

In cities throughout Russia, not just in Moscow, we are seeing spontaneous memorials, with people bringing flowers and candles and many queuing at a number of medical centres to donate blood.

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry specialists have dismantled and removed more than 60 cubic metres (2,119 cubic feet) of collapsed structures of the Crocus City Hall building, according to the ministry’s press service.

“At the moment, about 63 cubic metres [2,224 cubic feet] of collapsed structures have been dismantled and removed. Extinguishing fires on the roof and in the building continues. Specialised robotics are used in the work,” it said.

Aleksandra Chanysheva is convinced that lax security is what made the Friday night attack on a concert hall just northwest of Moscow possible.

“Guards are the most ridiculed and underpaid people in Russia,” the 51-year-old teacher of Russian language and literature at a public school told Al Jazeera. “And they do their work in the worst way possible.”

Some experts agree with Chanysheva – given post-Soviet Russia’s history of lethal attacks on crowded public places that dates back to when Moscow started the second Chechen war a quarter of a century ago. But other analysts and Russian opposition groups argue that an even darker possibility cannot be ruled out: They point to potential political gains for President Vladimir Putin from the Friday massacre.

Read the full story here.

Sberbank, Sovcombank and Home Bank have said they will settle the loans of all their clients who were killed or injured in the attack on the Crocus City Hall.

“Sberbank has an existing program to support clients in emergency situations. Currently, the bank is already analyzing information on loans to those killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack on March 22, 2024. The loans will be settled,” the Sberbank press service said on Telegram.

Sovcombank and Home Bank stated in a joint statement of the banks sent to the TASS news agency that “after the publication of the final lists of the dead and injured, bank employees will check them and their immediate relatives for valid loans or credit cards and, if debt is found, they will write it off completely.”

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has sent a telegram of condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the attack in the Crocus City Hall, according to his office.

The emir wished a speedy recovery to those wounded in the attack, it said.

The four suspected attackers are all foreign citizens, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry.

The announcement came after authorities earlier said they had arrested all four gunmen suspected of carrying out the shooting attack on the concert hall.

Antonio Guterres, who is on a visit to Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip to repeat his call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on the besieged territory, has “firmly” condemned the attack on the concert hall.

“We consider absolutely intolerable the attack that took place in Moscow and we encourage all countries to cooperate with each other in order to make sure that ISIS [ISIL] will not have the capacity to strike anywhere else in the world,” he told reporters.

The UN secretary-general called ISIL “a terrorist organisation that is operating in several parts of the world and is a very serious threat to us all”.

“[It] needs to be fought with determination, with a lot of international cooperation,” he said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova has said that “there are 107 patients in medical institutions, of which three children – one child is in extremely serious condition, two children are in serious condition”.

She told reporters after visiting the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center that among the adults 15 are in extremely serious condition, 42 are in serious condition.

The military intelligence spokesman, Andriy Yusov, says claims that Moscow attack suspects fled to the border with Ukraine, where they had “contacts”, was “another lie from the Russian special services”.

The claim “has nothing in common with reality and does not stand up to criticism”, Yusov told the Reuters news agency.

“Ukraine was of course not involved in this terror attack. Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its own territory and is fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians,” he added.

It is just after 4:30pm (13:30 GMT) in Moscow, the day after a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall rocked Russia.

Here are some of the latest developments:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed the Russian nation, calling the attack a “barbaric terrorist act” and declaring Sunday, March 24, a national day of mourning.
• All public events in Moscow have been cancelled this weekend, while the city’s four main airports have been put on the highest alert, reported Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari.
• ISIL, which took credit for the attack, posted a photo on one of its Telegram channels claiming to show the attackers. The group said the attack was part of its “raging war” on countries pitted against Islam.
• Ukrainian officials dismissed as “absurd” Russian claims that the Moscow attackers tried to escape into Ukrainian territory where they had “contacts”.
• Rescuers expect the attack’s death toll, currently at 115, to jump even more as they keep searching for bodies under the rubble of the burned concert hall.

ISIL has posted a photo showing four people it claims carried out the Moscow attack, on its official Telegram account, according to the Reuters news agency.

In a statement, ISIL said the attack was part of a “raging war” between ISIL and countries fighting Islam.

“The attack was carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and firebombs,” the group said.

Putin, in his national address, has confirmed that Russia had arrested all those responsible for the Moscow concert attack, adding that they would be punished accordingly.

He also echoed earlier claims from the country’s security services that the attackers had tried to “escape” to Ukraine, a narrative that top Ukrainian officials have dismissed as “absurd”.

Putin said more security measures would be implemented across Russia, which would not be divided by its “enemies”.

Putin says in his national address that the attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall was a “barbaric terrorist act”, adding that Russia would observe a national day of mourning in its aftermath on Sunday, March 24.

Putin also expressed “deep condolences” to all the victims, at least 115 of whom have been killed, and their families, and thanked Russia’s emergency services for their response to the attack.

We’ll bring you more of his comments shortly.