Russia says 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility
Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had learned the group’s branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and shared the information with Russian officials.
It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which state investigators were investigating as terrorism.
The attack, which left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof, was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine dragged into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “huge tragedy.”
Kinda funny how everyone hates the islamists so damn much that even the US and Russia will still pass each other heads ups about possible attacks even while actively fighting a halfway proxy war.
These fuckers just declared war on everyone and everyone responded with, "Ok, you're now at war with all of us.'
Part of the reason it was an embassy announcement. The US gov has a responsibility to protect its citizens. And if they had just passed this quietly to the FSB or something, nothing would have happened, but this both tells US citizens in Russia “yeah probably get out of there” but also puts the ball in Putin’s court in how he responds to the info, it’s a double play