Moscow:

Russia’s security services said Friday that they had arrested three people from “a Central Asian country” who were plotting an attack in the south of the country, news agencies reported.

The FSB said in a statement that it had “put an end to the terrorist activities of three nationals from a Central Asian country who were planning to commit a terrorist act by blowing up a device in a public place in the Stavropol region”, the agencies said.

Russian television showed images of several men pinned to the ground by FSB agents.

The Ria Novosti news agency said the ingredients for an improvised explosive device (IED) and chemical substances had been found at the home of one of the suspects.

The announcement came a week after last Friday’s massacre at the Crocus City concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, which claimed at least 144 lives.

The Stavropol region sits in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia, bordering Dagestan and Chechnya among other regions.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

 Russian artist Alyona Kazinskaya likes to fill her social media feed with cheerful messages and vivid floral paintings. For 30 minutes last Friday night, it turned into a timeline of terror.

Kazinskaya and a friend had bought last-minute tickets to see Soviet-era rock group “Picnic” perform in front of 6,200 people at a concert hall near Moscow. They thought about taking their daughters but decided to go by themselves.

It was at 8:01 p.m. that Kazinskaya posted a first 10-second audio message on her Telegram channel, sounding breathless and frightened as loud bursts of gunfire rang out.

“I love you all. I’m in Crocus City Hall – Picnic. They’re shooting here, at the concert. I’m in the hall. Call the police.”

As four Kalashnikov-toting gunmen rampaged through the building, spraying concertgoers with bullets, Kazinskaya found herself caught up in the deadliest attack on Russia for 20 years.

As of Thursday, 143 people were confirmed killed in the massacre, which has been claimed by Islamic State militants but which Russia is attempting – despite emphatic denials from Kyiv – to link to Ukraine.

In an interview with Reuters, Kazinskaya said she understood quickly that the sounds she was hearing were gunshots, not special effects. With her friend, she tried to get the people around them to leave their seats and run.

“We tried to get people up, we got them up, but people had already run to the exit and we couldn’t get through. At that moment they (the gunmen) entered the hall. Then I threw my friend to the floor and I said ‘let’s crawl’.”

SCRAMBLED MESSAGES

Her first thought, Kazinskaya said, was to get out of the hall, at any price. “My second thought was I’m wearing white, I’m a good target.”

She paused briefly, and laughed.

“And finally, the third thought was I’m going to write something now – yes I’m frightened but I’m going to put these messages in my (Telegram) channel because that way someone, somewhere will definitely hear them, find them and call someone.”

At 8:08 p.m. she wrote three messages in quick succession, scrambling the letters as her fingers trembled on the phone.

“Please ring the police!!!!!”

“Crocus City Hall”

“Shooting”

By now, the pair of them had escaped the hall but was still trapped inside the building. The shooting stopped, but now there was another hazard.

8:17 p.m. A one-word audio message. “Fire!”

The gunmen had used gasoline to set the huge concert hall ablaze. The two friends took refuge in a toilet. There was smoke everywhere. They tried half a dozen times to get out, but they couldn’t see anything and had to keep retreating.

Kazinskaya was losing hope.

At 8:23 p.m. she left a four-second audio message she thought would be the last one.

“I love you. Goodbye.”

Disorientated, the pair of them found themselves in another toilet where more people were hiding. There was a man there who said he thought he could find a way out. They followed him and managed to escape the building – but even then, Kazinskaya did not feel safe.

“I had only two thoughts. First, I need first aid because I can’t breathe. I had burning to my lungs, and an asthma attack. And the second thought was I have to get as far away from the building as I can.”

At 8:31 p.m. she left a new audio message. “I’m alive. I’m getting first aid. I got out. Thank you.”

Returning home, Kazinskaya says she just “hugged everyone”. Now, she says, it will be a long time before she goes to clubs or big concerts again. But she draws comfort from the amount of support she has received.

“I think society itself needs to be kinder,” she said. “Because we remember we’re human when something bad happens, but we need to be human every day.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russia is reeling from a mass shooting and blaze at a Moscow rock concert, which the government has labelled a “terrorist attack”.

Here AFP looks back at previous attacks on the city in the past 25 years.

– Apartment building bombed, 118 dead (1999) –

A bomb blast in the early hours of September 13, 1999 at an eight-storey apartment building in southeast Moscow kills 118 people.

The attack was one of five on apartment buildings that left a total of 293 people dead over a two-week period in Moscow and southern Russia

Moscow blames the attacks on separatist “terrorists” from the mainly Muslim North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.

President Vladimir Putin uses the attacks to justify launching a campaign to crush a separatist insurgency in Chechnya.

– Theatre hostage crisis, 130 dead (2002) –

A group of 21 male and 19 female Chechen rebels storm Moscow’s Dubrovka theatre on October 23, 2002 during a musical and take more than 800 people hostage.

The standoff with security forces lasts two days and three nights.

It ends when the security forces inject gas into the theatre to overpower the attackers and then storm it. A total of 130 hostages are killed. Most died by choking on the gas.

– Rock concert attack, 15 dead (2003) –

On July 5, 2003, two female suicide bombers, identified by Russia as Chechen separatists, blow themselves up during a rock concert at the Tushino airfield near Moscow, killing 15 people and injuring around 50 others.

Around 20,000 fans had come to hear some of Russia’s top bands at the annual Krylya (Wings) festival.

– Metro bombing, 41 dead (2004) –

On February 6, 2004, a little-known Chechen group detonates a bomb in a packed Moscow subway during morning rush hour, killing 41 people.

– Metro suicide attack, 40 dead (2010) –

On March 29, 2010, another two female suicide bombers blow themselves up on the Moscow subway.

Forty people are killed in the attacks, one of which targets Lubyanka station, beside the headquarters of the FSB intelligence services.

The two bombers were from the volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

The Caucasus Emirate group of Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claims responsibility.

– Airport attack, 37 dead (2011) –

On January 24, 2011, a suicide bomber strikes in the arrivals hall of Moscow Domodedovo international airport, killing 37 people.

The Caucasus Emirate group claims responsibility for the attack.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving regular updates about the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert near Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

“Vladimir Putin was informed about the beginning of the shooting in the first minutes of what happened in Crocus City Hall,” the Kremlin said.

“The president constantly receives information about what is happening and about the measures being taken through all relevant services. The head of state gave all the necessary instructions,” Peskov said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russia will find and destroy Ukraine’s top officials if they are linked to the gun attack outside Moscow that left dozens dead on Friday, former president Dmitry Medvedev said.

“If it is established that these are terrorists of the Kyiv regime … all of them must be found and ruthlessly destroyed as terrorists,” Medvedev wrote in a post on Telegram, adding that “official representatives of the state that committed such a crime” would also be punished.

Russian authorities said at least 40 people were killed and 100 wounded in a gun attack on a concert hall in the Moscow suburbs.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)