Moscow concert hall attack: Russia detains 11 as death toll rises to 133

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) tries to link Ukraine to assault despite ISIL affiliate claim of responsibility.

Russian authorities have detained 11 people in connection with a grisly attack in a packed concert hall near Moscow as the death toll climbed to 133, with more than 100 people injured.

On Saturday, Russia’s Investigative Committee said more bodies were found inside the Crocus City Hall in Moscow’s northern suburb of Krasnogorsk. “Search operations continue,” it added in a Telegram post.

The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, who visited the venue on Saturday said: “As for the dead, I must say right away that the number of victims will grow significantly.”

Gunmen wearing combat fatigues opened fire with automatic weapons at the venue on Friday as concertgoers were preparing to watch a performance by Picnic, a veteran Soviet-era rock band.

An affiliate of ISIL (ISIS), Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) that has been active in Afghanistan and Iran, claimed responsibility for the assault.

The authorities are yet to officially say who carried out the deadliest attack in Russia for at least a decade. In 2004, more than 330 people, half of them children, were killed in the Beslan school siege.

ISIS-K, which previously targeted the Russian embassy in Kabul, claimed that its fighters attacked “a large gathering” on Moscow’s outskirts and “retreated to their bases safely”.

In a televised address to the Russian people, President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called the attack a “barbaric terrorist act” and declared Sunday as a day of national mourning.