27/03/2024
As the dust begins to settle, here’s what we know about the Moscow concert hall terrorist attack.
ISIS claimed responsibility and released graphic bodycam footage of the March 22 massacre, which took the lives of at least 139 people, with dozens still in hospitals.
All four shooters were apprehended and identified as citizens of Tajikistan, one of the countries from which Islamic State is known to recruit heavily.
On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Russia had said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow,” including concerts. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the U.S. government had “shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy.”
In a speech on March 19, just days ahead of the attack, President Putin referred to the American warnings as “obvious blackmail” made with “the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.”
Three days after the attack, Mr. Putin acknowledged that radical Islamists were responsible, but went on to suggest that someone in Ukraine may also have been involved because the terrorists were allegedly planning to flee Russia via the Ukrainian border.
Western officials, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, have pushed back against Mr. Putin’s claim that Ukraine may have had a hand in the attack, saying there is no evidence to support that.