On 23rd March, Islamic State (ISIS) released bodycam footage of the deadly terror attack at the Crocus City Hall music venue. They also released a photograph of the four terrorists involved in the attack. In a statement, ISIS said four terrorists stormed into the large concert hall in Moscow, “unleashing a hail of gunfire and igniting the venue in flames”. The statement and media were released by ISIS’s mouthpiece, Amaq News Agency, on Telegram. Quoting Amaq, Reuters noted, “The attack comes within the context of a raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam.”
In the ISIS-released bodycam footage, the terrorists were heard shouting “Allah-hu-Akbar” and shooting people indiscriminately. In one of the shots, a terrorist was seen slitting the throat of a victim repeatedly.
Channel One, a Russian state-run channel, aired the footage of terrorists being detained and interrogated by the agencies. One of the suspects was detained from Khatsun village in the Bryansk region, close to the Russia-Belarus border. During the interrogation, one of the suspects said he killed people for money. He said he was offered half a million Rubles, which is approximately USD 5,425, for the attack. Furthermore, he said he had received half of the payment in advance. Russian Interior Ministry said that the four suspects detained were from Tajikistan.
President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish the ISIS terrorists
On 23rd March, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish the terrorists after they attacked the Crocus City Hall music venue in the city of Krasnogorsk, near Moscow on 22nd March. Reportedly, 133 people lost their lives in the attack. In an address to the nation, Putin said, “Our people, our children, just like the Nazis that once killed our people during the war. They do the same. All the orchestrators responsible for this crime will inevitably be found responsible; they will pay. We will identify everyone who stands behind these terrorists, and they will pay. This is a strike against Russia.” The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted the video on social media platforms.
Furthermore, he added that Russia would investigate the attack. He informed that the Russian forces apprehended all four terrorists directly involved in the attack. President Vladimir Putin asserted all efforts would be made to identify the details of the attack. Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that the aim was to kill people.
He said, “We will investigate this terrorist attack, and we already have some results. All four perpetrators who were directly involved were gunning people down and killing people. They were found and apprehended. They tried to escape. They were moving towards the border with Ukraine, and we have data that suggests that they were about to be moved towards the territory of Ukraine by those in Ukraine.”
President Vladimir Putin added, “Our military services, our emergency services, our investigators are working on finding out the orchestrators of this terrorist attack, those who gave them transportation, who gave them weapons, etc. The investigative authorities will do everything to identify all details of this crime. But it’s already evident that we face not just a cynically organized terrorist attack but a massive mass killing of civilians. These perpetrators, these criminals went specifically to kill, to kill people, point blank.”
Russian President said terrorists have no nationality
Putin stressed that Russia expects other nations to cooperate with them. He said the terrorists have no nationality, and there is no future for them. He urged the people of Russia to stay united. He said, “We know what terrorist threat means, and we expect that other nations that share our pain will cooperate with us, and we will stand united against this common enemy, international terrorism. No matter where it shows its ugly head, these terrorists have no nationality, and there is only one future for them: retribution and oblivion. Our duty right now, our common duty right now, is to stand together, to stand united, and I believe we will stand together.”
“Nobody can divide us, undermine our common strength nation of Russia’s nation or seek discord in our multinational society. Russia has faced many terrible challenges in its history, but it always came out stronger, and this will be the same this time,” he added.
According to RT News, the Russian Investigative Committee said that 115 people died in the attack, and the figure might rise. Later, reports suggested the death toll rose to 133. Investigators said, “According to preliminary data, the causes of death were gunshot wounds and poisoning by combustion products (smoke inhalation).” The investigating agencies were looking into CCTV footage to find out how the attack happened. Earlier, it was reported 93 people lost their lives. Still, later, they found dead bodies in the rubble. 11 people, including four terrorists who were directly involved in the attack, were reportedly detained by the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB).
In a statement, the agency said, “The activities of intelligence and law enforcement agencies have resulted in the detention of 11 people, including four terrorists, who directly participated in the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall.”
Ukraine denied link
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his statement that the terrorists were moving towards Ukraine when detained by the agencies. However, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yuson denied the links. He told Reuters, “Ukraine was, of course, not involved in this terror attack. Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its territory and fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to divert the blame. He said, “It’s obvious that Putin and other thugs are just trying to blame someone else. Their methods are always the same. We’ve seen it all before destroyed buildings, shootings, and explosions. And they always find someone else to blame.” He added, “They have brought hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here, on Ukrainian land, to fight against us, and they don’t care about what is happening inside their own country.”
“Yesterday, as all this happened, instead of dealing with his fellow Russian citizens, addressing them, the wimp Putin was silent for a full 24 hours, thinking about how to tie this to Ukraine. It’s all predictable,” said Zelenskyy.
Terrorist attack in Russia
On 22nd March, Islamic State terrorists launched a massive attack on a concert hall in the Russian capital that left at least 133 people dead and over 100 wounded. A group of armed men stormed into Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow and opened fire and detonated explosives among the crowd on Friday (local time). The terror group took responsibility for the attack in a short statement published by ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram on Friday. Video footage from the site of the attack, the Crocus City Hall concert venue on fire with smoke billowing into the air. It showed crowds of people huddling together, screaming and ducking behind cushioned seats as gunshots started echoing in the vast hall.
ISIS released bodycam footage of Moscow terror attack (opindia.com)