All four Moscow attackers detained, says Russia

Today’s live coverage has ended. Here is a roundup of the day’s main events:

• Vladimir Putin said that the Moscow concert hall attackers were ‘trying to flee to Ukraine’. 
• The death toll for the concert hall attack rose to 133.
• ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack. 
• Videos surfaced that showed alleged suspects of Moscow attack ‘confessing’ to receiving payment.
• Two people were killed after alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region. 

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey is ready to cooperate with Russia in the fight against terror after the attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people. 

Mr Erdogan’s office said that he expressed “his deep sorrow and condolences... for the terrorist attack in Moscow” in a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

The Turkish president earlier told a public rally in Ankara that “we strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack targeting innocent civilians”. 

“Terrorism is unacceptable no matter who it comes from or who the perpetrator is,” he added. 

Gunmen who killed over 130 people at a Moscow concert hall on Friday did so in a calculated and methodical manner, a survivor of the assault said. 

“There were five or six of them, they were just walking and just shooting like this. They did not shoot upwards, they did not scream, they did not say ‘Everyone lay down, we will kill you’ and etc. They were just walking and gunning down everyone methodically in silence. Sound was echoing and we could not understand what was where,” Anastasia Rodionova told an interviewer. 

Ms Rodionova also recalled how discovering her coat covered in blood made her realise how fortunate she was to have escaped the attack: 

“It is unbelievable. You understand only now that you are lucky, really lucky. I came home, my coat was just covered in blood. Apparently someone shielded me (with his body). There were people running behind me. And they were effectively covering me. Me, my relatives and those who were running next to me.”

Four suspected gunmen detained after an attack on a concert hall in Russia that has killed more than 130 people were all foreign citizens, Russia’s interior ministry said on Saturday. 

Russian media has reported that some of the attackers were nationals of Tajikistan. 

Tajikistan borders Khorasan, the eastern province of Afghanistan associated with ISIS-K, who have claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Islamic State Khorasan emerged in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and the group have gained a reputation for extreme brutality. 

Read more about Islamic State Khorasan here.

The Islamic State’s news agency has described the attack on a Moscow concert hall, which killed more than 130 people, as an attack on “a large crowd of Christians”. 

Amaq, a news agency linked with the terror group, cited security sources to state that the attack resulted in “at least 300 Christians killed or wounded” and occurred within the “normal context of the raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam”. 

The release also said that the attack was carried out by four Islamic State “fighters” who were “armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and incendiary bombs” and was preceded by “an intensive monitoring operation”. 

Three terrorists were said to have stormed the hall while a fourth set fire to the building. 

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Russian authorities have alleged Ukrainian involvement after claiming that the attackers’ escape vehicle was heading towards the Russia-Ukraine border.  

Ukraine has vehemently denied any involvement. 

The death toll from the shooting and fire attack on a Moscow concert hall has risen to 133 from an earlier figure of 115 dead, Russian investigators said. 

“While clearing the debris in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, the number killed as a result of the terrorist attack rose to 133 people. Search operations are continuing,” the investigative committee said in a statement on Friday’s attack.

Key quotes from Putin’s address:

“I am addressing to you in connection with the bloody, barbaric terrorist act, the victims of which were dozens of peaceful, innocent people – our compatriots, including children, teenagers, and women.

“Additional anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage measures have been introduced in Moscow and the Moscow region, in all regions of the country. The main thing now is to prevent those who are behind this bloodbath from committing a new crime.

“The Federal Security Service of Russia and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire terrorist support base: those who provided them with transport, planned escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, caches of weapons and ammunition...

“It is already obvious that we are faced not just with a carefully and cynically planned terrorist attack, but with the organised mass murder of peaceful defenceless people. The criminals were cold-blooded and purposefully going to kill, shoot our citizens at point-blank range - our children.

“Like the Nazis who once carried out massacres in the occupied territories, they planned to arrange a demonstrative execution, a bloody act of intimidation. All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished. Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this strike against Russia, against our people.

“Our common duty now, our comrades–in-arms at the front, all citizens of the country, is to be together in one formation. I believe it will be so, because no one and nothing can shake our unity and will, our determination and courage, the strength of the united people of Russia. No one will be able to sow the poisonous seeds of discord, panic and discord in our multinational society. Russia has been through the hardest, sometimes unbearable trials more than once, but it has become even stronger. So it will be now.”

“The attack comes within the context of a raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam,” the Islamic State’s news agency said citing security sources. 

Vladimir Putin has linked Ukraine with the biggest terrorist attacks in Russia for several years that killed at least 115 people.

“All four perpetrators were found and detained. They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, previously, a window had been prepared for them to cross the border,” Putin said in his first public statement since Friday’s attack on the concert hall.

“We are faced not just with a cynically planned terrorist attack, but with a prepared mass murder of defenceless people. The criminals were there to kill. Like the Nazis once did, they planned to stage a show execution,” the Russian president added. 

Russian forces have captured the town of Ivanivske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has said.

“The village of Krasnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic was liberated,” a defence ministry spokesman said in a statement, using the Russian name for the settlement. 

The town is located 4 miles west of Bakhmut, which was taken by Moscow after a 9-month long battle in May 2023. 

For the Russian military, the seizure of Ivanivske potentially opens the road to Chasiv Yar, a city 6 miles west of Ivanivske. 

Russia has been making incremental gains along the frontline since it captured the city of Avdiivka in February. 

Mothers were found embracing their children as investigators discovered 28 bodies in a toilet and 14 on a staircase after the gun attack at a Moscow concert hall, a Russian news agency said. 

Russian state TV editor Margarita Simonyan published a video of one of the suspects, a young bearded man, being interrogated by the side of a road. She said the death toll had climbed to 143 but did not give the source of her information.

Russia has arrested 11 people, the Kremlin said, including four suspected gunmen, in connection with the assault at Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow that has killed more than 100 people. 

Videos have surfaced on social media showing two alleged suspects of the Moscow attack confessing to receiving payment for “killing people”. 

The videos show what appear to be Russian security services interrogating two men at a roadside. 

In one video, the Russian-speaking suspect says that he killed people “for money” after responding to an anonymous post on the encrypted messaging service Telegram. 

The suspect says that he was offered 500,000 rubles (£4,200) and has already received 250,000 rubles (£2,100). 

The Telegraph has not been able to verify the footage. 

Indications that the footage seen by The Telegraph could be from an unrelated incident are that the Moscow attacks are not mentioned directly, and that the amount of money allegedly offered to the suspects is relatively low for an attack of this scale. 

At least 115 people were killed in Friday’s attack, Russian authorities said on Saturday, adding that the death toll was likely to continue rising.

“The emergency services have found more bodies while removing the rubble. The death toll now stands at 115 people,” Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.

The UK on Saturday condemned “in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack” at a concert hall in Moscow that left more than 90 people dead.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences and express our deepest sympathy to the families of the many victims,” Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, wrote on X, adding “nothing can ever justify such horrific violence.”

There should be a clear answer on the battlefield if Ukraine is found to be behind an attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 93 people, Andrei Kartapolov, a lawmaker and former high-ranking Russian military officer has said. 

According to the Russian FSB security service, the four attack suspects were heading towards Russia’s border with Ukraine when they were apprehended early on Saturday and had contacts on the Ukrainian side. 

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday that Kyiv had nothing to do with Friday’s attack.

The suspects set fire to the Crocus City Concert Hall using a “flammable liquid” after their gun rampage that killed more than 90 people, Russian investigators have said. 

“The terrorists used a flammable liquid to set fire to the concert hall premises where there were spectators, including wounded,” Russia’s investigative committee, which probes major crimes, said about Friday’s attack.

The 93 victims of the attack were killed by gunshot wounds and poisoning via combustion products, the BBC reported. 

Multiple air attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod adjoining Ukraine on Saturday killed two people and injured at least seven, the Belgorod governor said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that two districts in his region as well as the regional capital, also called Belgorod, had been hit in drone and air attacks.

“It’s shaping up to be a difficult morning,” Mr Gladkov said.

“As a result of an air attack by Ukrainian armed forces on Belgorod, three balconies collapsed in an apartment building. One of these apartments was occupied by a married couple. To much grief, the man died from his injuries on the spot,” he added. 

Three children were among those killed in a terror attack on a Moscow concert hall, according to information released by the Moscow regional health ministry. 

Mikhail Murashko, the Russian health minister, reported that a total of 115 people had been taken to hospital, five of whom were minors.

Warning, some viewers may find this content distressing. 

Russian officials said security was tightened at Moscow’s airports, railway stations and the capital’s sprawling subway system. 

Moscow’s mayor cancelled all mass gatherings, and theatres and museums shut for the weekend. Other Russian regions also tightened security.

Dave Primov, who was in the hall during the attack, described panic and chaos when the attack began.

“There were volleys of gunfire,” Mr Primov told the AP. “We all got up and tried to move toward the aisles. People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”

Videos posted by Russian media and on messaging app channels showed men toting assault rifles shooting screaming people at point-blank range. One video showed a man in the auditorium saying the assailants had set it on fire, as gunshots rang out incessantly.

The prosecutor’s office said several men in combat fatigues entered the concert hall and fired on concertgoers.

Three children were among those killed in an attack on a concert near Moscow on Friday, the RIA news agency cited the regional healthcare ministry as saying on Saturday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday after a deadly shooting at a concert hall near Moscow, saying China opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns terrorist attacks.

China firmly supports the Russian government’s efforts to maintain national security and stability, Mr Xi said, according to China’s CCTV state television.

 Ukrainian forces shot down 31 of 34 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Kyiv’s air force said on Saturday.

The Iranian-made drones were downed over parts of central, southern and southeastern Ukraine, the military said

The fire that followed the concert hall attack had been “mostly eliminated”, the Russian capital’s governor said on Saturday.

“There are still some pockets of fire, but the fire has been mostly eliminated. Rescuers were able to enter the auditorium,” Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on Telegram.

A fire broke out on Saturday at an oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region following a drone attack, the regional governor said, according to Russian news agencies.

“Last night, there were several drone attacks against regional oil refineries,” said Governor Dmitri Azarov. One of those attacks caused a fire at the Kuibyshev oil refinery,  but there were no casualties, he said.

Elsewhere, one person was killed and two wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region on Saturday morning, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said

The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 12 miles from the Kremlin, comes just two weeks after the US embassy in Russia warned that “extremists” had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.

Hours before the embassy warning, the Russian internal security service FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

Vladimir Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and IS.

“ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticising Putin in its propaganda,” said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Centre.

The broader IS group has claimed deadly attacks across the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Europe, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

While the fate of the attackers was unclear, a grainy picture was published by some Russian media of two of the alleged attackers in a white car. 

A spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was too early to say what happened to the gunmen, Russian state news agency RIA reported.

Islamic State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely”. The statement gave no further detail.

The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the shooting, a US official said on Friday. The official said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.

“We did warn the Russians appropriately,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details.

Russian authorities have yet to say who they think is responsible.

Alexei, a music producer, said he was about to settle into his seat before the start of a rock concert when he heard gunfire and “a lot of screams”.

“I realised right away that it was automatic gunfire and understood that most likely it’s the worst: a terrorist attack,” said Alexei, who would not give his last name.

As people ran towards emergency exits, “there was a terrible crush” with concert-goers climbing on one another’s heads to get out, he added.

President Vladimir Putin wished injured victims of the deadly attack a speedy recovery, Russia’s deputy prime minister said on Saturday after meeting with him.

“The president wished everyone a speedy recovery and conveyed his gratitude to the doctors,” Tatyana Golikova was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. 

Putin has yet to comment publicly on the attack.

We will be bringing you the latest updates and developments on the concert hall attack in Moscow.