Russian Investigative Committee: Death toll from terrorist attack near Moscow rises to 133 – UPDATED

The death toll of a terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall near Moscow, Russia, on 22 March rose to 133, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported. According to the Committee, the death toll is likely to rise further. According to the Russian Telegram channel, as of 23 March over 180 people were injured. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said over 107 people remain in hospitals. According to the Moscow Health Department, 88 people were admitted to Moscow city hospitals after the attack in Crocus, including four children. On the evening of 22 March, the shooting attack occurred as crowds gathered for a concert by the Russian rock band, Picnic at the Crocus City Hall concert center on the outskirts of Moscow. Several people in camouflage opened fire on the crowd with automatic weapons and threw Molotov cocktails, starting a fire. All tickets for the concert were sold out, and up to 7,200 people could have been inside the building. The roof over the Crocus City Hall was collapsed. The fire is still being extinguished. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has not yet commented on the attack. On the night of 23 March, RIA Novosti propagandists announced his address but later called the announcement a "technical glitch."

The head of the FSB reported to Putin on the detention of 11 people, including all four terrorists reportedly directly involved in the attack at Crocus.

Kremlin-controlled media reported that suspects may be citizens of Tajikistan, but the country's Foreign Ministry said it was fake

Events were canceled in some Russian cities. Two weeks ago, the US Embassy in Russia and the UK Foreign Ministry cautioned about potential terrorist attacks in Moscow. Ukrainian intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov said that the shooting in Moscow was a deliberate provocation by Putin’s regime, which the international community had warned about. “The Kremlin tyrant began his career with this and wants to end it with the same crimes against his own citizens,” Yusov said. Russia faced deadly terror attacks in the early 2000s during the Chechen war. In 1999 Putin became president. In the early 2000s, Russia faced deadly terror attacks during the Chechen war. In 2002, Chechen militants took 800 hostages at a Moscow theater. In 2004, Chechen militants seized a school in Beslan, taking hundreds hostage; the two-day siege ended with over 330 dead, about half of them children. Critics of Putin’s regime claim that the FSB could have orchestrated the terrorist attacks. Read also:

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