Russia’s investigative committee has confirmed that at least 60 people have been killed in a Moscow concert attack.
“The bodies of the deceased are currently being examined. It is provisionally established that more than 60 people died in the terrorist attack. Unfortunately, the number of victims could rise,” said the Investigative Committee charged with overseeing the response to the attack.
Several gunmen dressed in camouflage entered the Crocus City Hall in a suburb of Mosow and opened fire at people gathered for a rock concert.
At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 others injured, according to the FSB, Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Video footage from inside the concert hall shows at least four attackers firing indiscriminately at screaming civilians trying to run away.
Several explosions were heard, and there was a huge fire in the building, which caused part of the roof near the theatre to collapse.
Authorities managed to evacuate 100 people hiding in the basement and there are reports some of the attackers have barricaded themselves inside.
Russia’s national guard is involved in the hunt for the attackers, whose identity is yet to be established.
Dmitry Medvedev, who briefly served as Russia’s president, said in a statement on Telegram that those who are responsible for the attack should be “found and ruthlessly destroyed”, particularly if they were inspired by “the Kyiv regime”.
Now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, Medvedev has used increasingly fiery rhetoric since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – especially when speaking about Ukraine and its Western partners.