Moscow:

Teenage cloakroom attendant Artem Donskov helped people flee to safety when gunmen stormed a concert hall near Moscow last month. Now his mother is trying to get him to see a psychologist.

In an interview with Reuters, 14-year-old Artem said he and his colleagues helped people escape via a service corridor and directed them to the exits after the attackers sprayed concert-goers with gunfire and set the building ablaze.

At one point panic broke out, he said.

“As I understood it, some man yelled that the terrorists might be coming towards us and everyone was frightened. At first, some people ran into a dead end, then they ran outside, dropping their mobile phones and bags, and tried to escape as fast as they could.”

At least 144 people were killed in the March 22 attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility but Russia says the attackers were linked to Ukraine, something Kyiv has repeatedly denied.

Artem’s mother Alexandra Donskova told Reuters that he and the family were emotionally exhausted. She said he was a shy boy and she was concerned about his mental health.

“Of course I would like him to have at least one session with a psychologist, because I can’t treat my own child. And I would like him to work through this situation,” she said.

“He isn’t agreeing to it at the moment, but maybe I will insist a little bit later.”
 

 

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

Teenage cloakroom attendant Artem Donskov helped people flee to safety when gunmen rushed into a concert hall near Moscow last month. Now his mother is trying to get him to see a psychologist.

In an interview with Reuters, 14-year-old Artem said he and his colleagues helped people escape via a service corridor and directed them to the exits after the attackers sprayed concert-goers with gunfire and set the building ablaze.

At one point panic broke out, he said.

“As I understood it, some man yelled that the terrorists might be coming towards us and everyone was frightened. At first, some people ran into a dead end, then they ran outside, dropping their mobile phones and bags, and tried to escape as fast as they could.”

At least 144 people were killed in the March 22 attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility but Russia says the attackers were linked to Ukraine, something Kyiv has repeatedly denied.

Artem’s mother Alexandra Donskova told Reuters that he and the family were emotionally exhausted. She said he was a shy boy and she was concerned about his mental health.

“Of course I would like him to have at least one session with a psychologist, because I can’t treat my own child. And I would like him to work through this situation,” she said.

“He isn’t agreeing to it at the moment, but maybe I will insist a little bit later.”

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

People hold candles while attending a charity concert in memory of victims of the terrorist attack, at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on March 30, 2024. Since the attack, thousands of people have brought bunches of flowers, wreaths and other tokens such as teddy bears, creating a makeshift memorial at the Crocus City Hall.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russia’s FSB security service said on April 1 that four people arrested over a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.

More than 140 people were killed when gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on March 22 before setting the building on fire in the most deadly attack in Russia for two decades.

The FSB said in a statement Monday that it had arrested four people a day earlier in the southern Dagestan region who “were directly involved in the financing and supply of terrorist means to the perpetrators of the terrorist act carried out on 22 March in the Crocus City Hall in Moscow.”

Russia’s national anti-terrorism committee said on Sunday that it had apprehended three people who were “planning to commit a series of terrorist crimes.”

The FSB said Monday that four foreign citizens had been arrested in the operation in the regional capital Makhachkala and the nearby town of Kaspiysk.

The Interfax news agency cited an FSB video showing one of the detained men saying: “I took weapons to them, these guys who attacked Crocus City Hall. I took them weapons from Makhachkala.”

Russian authorities had previously announced the arrests of 12 people they say are connected to the attack — including the four suspected gunmen, who have been identified as Tajik citizens.

Ten suspects charged

The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said separately Monday that it was formally charging another suspect with carrying out a “terrorist attack”.

“At the moment, the investigation has charged ten defendants,” it said in a statement.

Moscow courts confirmed the tenth suspect, Yakubdjoni Yusufzody, has been detained until May 22, accused of having “transferred money to an accomplice” a few days before the attack to “provide accommodation for the terrorists”.

Citing information provided to the court, Russian agencies reported that Yusufzody is also from Tajikistan.

The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the massacre, the most deadly it says it has ever carried out on European soil, though President Vladimir Putin has talked up a Ukrainian and Western connection.

Kyiv and the West have repeatedly denied any involvement and accused Moscow of “exploiting” the tragedy.

Dagestan is a Muslim-majority region in Russia’s southern Caucasus region.

The FSB has come under scrutiny over its failure to thwart the attack despite private and public warnings by the US intelligence community that “extremists” were planning an “imminent” attack on “large gatherings” in Moscow.

The agency regularly announces it has foiled alleged “terrorist cells”, but in recent months has mainly announced the arrests of what it calls pro-Ukrainian saboteurs planning attacks on Russian military sites and infrastructure.

In June 2015, a few months after the Islamic State (IS) announced the establishment of its Wilayat Khorasan (Khorasan Province), the Taliban wrote a letter to the then IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, asking him to stop recruiting jihadists in Afghanistan. The letter, signed by the then political committee chief of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansour (who would take over the insurgency in a month and be killed by a U.S. air strike in May 2016), said there was room for “only one flag and one leadership” in the fight to re-establish Islamic rule in Afghanistan. But the IS faction, which came to be known as the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), did not stop recruiting disgruntled Taliban fighters. In the subsequent years, the IS-K attacked the Taliban for holding talks with the “crusaders” (read the U.S.) and abandoning jihad. It launched a series of attacks, mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shia-Hazara minority.       

ALSO READ | The View From India | Why did the Islamic State attack Russia?

Today, the IS-K has emerged as the most powerful and most ambitious branch of the Islamic State networks. It has training centres in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. It has recruited thousands of disgruntled Central Asians. It has stepped up attacks in recent months across the Eurasian landmass, including the January twin bombings of Kerman, Iran, a strike on a church in Istanbul in the same month and a massive attack on a concert hall in the outskirts of Moscow on March 22. Armed gunmen opened fire at the Crocus City Concert Hall and threw explosives, killing at least 137 people and wounding nearly 200 others, in one of the worst terrorist attacks in Russia in years. Russian authorities have arrested and charged four Tajik nationals for the attack.  

The origins 

When the Islamic State announced the formation of the Khorasan Province, referring to an area encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, in January 2015, the group’s immediate strategy was to exploit the divisions within the main jihadist groups operating in the region. It appointed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Hafiz Saeed Khan as its leader and former Afghan Taliban commander Abdul Rauf Aliza as his deputy (both were killed in U.S. strikes). It attracted members from different militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Haqqani Network and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan into its fold, according to the U.S.-based Combating Terrorism Centre.

The IS-K declared its allegiance to Baghdadi. In operational tactics and ideology, it followed its parental organisation. The key goal is to establish “Islamic rule” in the “province” and for that they are ready to wage “jihad”. “There is no doubt that Allah the Almighty has blessed us with jihad in the land of Khorasan since a long time ago, and it is from the grace of Allah that we fought any disbeliever who entered the land of Khorasan. All of this is for the sake of establishing the Shariah,” the IS-K said in a video message in 2015.

ALSO READ | Terror in Moscow: On concerns over the Islamic State

When the IS in Iraq and Syria came under pressure in 2015 and 2016, the core organisation shifted its focus to Afghanistan. The IS was losing territories to Kurdish militias in Syria and government forces and Shia militias in Iraq. In Afghanistan, a divided country with the government’s writ hardly reaching its hinterlands, the IS saw an opportunity to rebuild its organisation. Having built its base in eastern Afghanistan, the IS-K issued propaganda messages, calling on Muslim youth across Asia to join the group. Many radicalised youth, including dozens from India, travelled to Afghanistan to either join the IS or live an “Islamic life” under the Caliphate’s rule.

Rivalry with Taliban

The Taliban did not like its monopoly over violent jihad being challenged by another organisation. Also, the Taliban are a tribal, nationalist militant force, backed by Pakistan, whereas the IS-K doesn’t believe in national borders—they are global jihadists fighting for a transnational Islamist Caliphate.

“The leadership of Daesh [IS] is independent, the goals of Daesh are independent,” Omar Khorasani, who was the IS-K’s top leader, said in an interview in 2021. “We have a global agenda and so when people ask who can really represent Islam and the whole Islamic community, of course, we’re more attractive.” The ideological and operational differences led to open clashes between the IS-K and the Taliban. When the Taliban seized Kabul and took over prisons in August 2021, they freed several of their members, but executed Khorasani and other IS-K militants. Shahab al-Muhajir has been leading the terrorist group as its “Emir” since Khorasani was arrested in April 2020.

Why Russia and Iran?

The U.S. has carried out a number of targeted attacks, killing several of the ISKP’s leaders. In April 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered troops to drop the ‘Mother of all Bombs’, the most powerful non-nuclear bomb, on IS caves in eastern Afghanistan. But despite the U.S.’s targeted bombings and the Taliban’s counter-attacks on the ground, the IS-K has continued to expand its operations. When the Taliban established its regime in Kabul, the IS-K proclaimed that it is the real jihadist outfit. Militants from Central Asia who were part of the Islamic State Caliphate swelled the IS-K’s ranks after they relocated to Afghanistan.

The IS-K also launched propaganda videos targeting Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities such as Tajiks and Uzbeks, who were excluded by the Taliban’s Pashtun-only regime. Russia and its President Vladimir Putin emerged as the key enemy in the IS’s propaganda videos. After the Moscow attack, the IS said its soldiers had killed a “lot of Christians”. It also said Russia had “blood of Muslims on its hands”, referring to its military operations in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.

Particularly in Syria, where IS was founded in 2014 amid the country’s civil war, it had grand ambitions, which were thwarted by Russia’s 2015 intervention. The IS captured eastern Syrian cities of Raqqa and Der Ezzour in 2013 and 2024, and it wanted to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and capture Damascus, the seat of power of the Umayyad Caliphate in the seventh century. But Russia’s intervention, along with help from Iran, made sure that President Assad survived the civil war.

In 2017, when the IS captured the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, Russians fought along with the Syrian troops to liberate the city. Subsequently, the IS’s physical Caliphate was crushed by a host of forces — Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians and Shia militias with air cover from Russia and the U.S. Now, the IS-K sees ‘Christian’ Russia and ‘Rejectionist’ Iran (in the IS lexicon, Shias are “rejectionists”, who reject the first three Caliphs of Sunni Islam) as top enemies.

Today, the IS-K wants to be the centre of global jihadism. Back-to-back attacks in different places from Istanbul to Kerman to Moscow suggest that the group is on a path to revival, six years after its physical Caliphate was destroyed. Chaos in West Asia, a base in Afghanistan, and foot soldiers from Central Asia are all helping the group expand its activities, with highly sophisticated internet propaganda.

Moscow:

The Kremlin refused to comment Monday on the Islamic State group’s claims that it was behind the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades, as rescuers searched for bodies amid the rubble of the burnt-out Moscow concert hall.

Eleven people have been detained in connection with the attack, which saw camouflaged gunmen storm into Crocus City Hall, open fire on concert-goers and set the building ablaze, killing at least 137 people.

Islamic State jihadists have said several times since Friday that they were responsible, and IS-affiliated media channels have published graphic videos of the gunmen inside the venue.

But in his only public remarks on the massacre, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pointed to a possible Ukraine connection, and no senior Russian official has commented on the IS claims.

“The investigation is still ongoing. No coherent version has yet been voiced,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday when asked why Russia had not addressed IS’s claimed involvement.

“We are talking only about preliminary data. No version has been put forward yet,” he added.

Officials expect the death count to rise further, as rescuers were searching the site for remains on Monday and 97 are still in hospital.

‘Dealing with threats’

Putin has no plans to visit the site of the attack, on the northwestern edge of Moscow, Peskov said.

He will hold a meeting with Russia’s security chiefs, government officials and the heads of Moscow and the Moscow region later Monday.

The Kremlin also expressed confidence in the country’s powerful security agencies, as questions swirl over how they failed to thwart the massacre despite public and private warnings by the United States’ intelligence apparatus.

In a series of late-night court hearings in Moscow that ran into the early hours of Monday, four of the suspects — with bruises and cuts on their swollen faces — were dragged in amid dozens of reporters who had assembled at the capital’s Basmanny district court.

FSB officers wheeled one into the hearing on a gurney, his eyes barely open.

Peskov refused to comment on reports and videos on social media that showed bloody interrogations of the suspects after they were arrested on Saturday.

The court identified them as Muhammadsobir Fayzov, Shamsidin Fariduni, Rachabalizoda Saidakrami and Dalerjon Mirzoyev.

Russian state media said they were all citizens of Tajikistan.

Two of them pled guilty, the court said.

Three other suspects, whom Russian media identified as family members Aminchon Islomov, Dilovar Islomov and Isroil Islomov, were remanded in pre-trial detention on Monday.

One of those detained has Russian citizenship, the Interfax news agency reported.

All of those held in custody have been charged with terrorism and face up to life in prison. The Kremlin has pushed back at suggestions the death penalty will be re-introduced.

Removing rubble

At least 137 people, including three children, were killed, according to the latest toll by Russian investigators.

After walking through the theatre shooting spectators, the gunmen set fire to the building, trapping many inside.

Victims died both of gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.

More than 5,000 people were in the concert hall when the gunmen stormed in ahead of a sold-out rock concert, Russian state media cited a spokesperson from the venue owner as saying Monday.

Rescuers will continue sifting through the rubble and clearing debris at the site until Tuesday evening, said Andrey Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region.

“The task is to remove the rubble to make sure there are no bodies underneath,” Vorobyov said in a Telegram post.

Putin on Saturday vowed “retribution and oblivion” to the “terrorists, murderers and non-humans” who carried out the “barbaric terrorist act”.

He said the four assailants had been arrested while trying to flee to Ukraine, where they had secured a “window” to cross the border.

Mourning

The FSB has said the gunmen had “contacts” in Ukraine, without providing more details.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied any Ukrainian involvement.

The United States, which on March 7 warned about an “imminent” attack in Moscow by “extremists”, has said IS bears “sole responsibility”.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned Russia against “exploiting” the attack to blame Kyiv.

Russia observed a day of national mourning on Sunday, with dozens coming to lay flowers at a memorial to the victims, and tribute posters were erected on the sides of buildings and at transport stops across the country.

Russian schools were holding special lessons on “terrorism,” on Monday, with children wearing white ribbons in honour of the victims, state TV presenters said in a news bulletin.

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon condemned the attack again on Monday, after Russian media reported the gunmen were Tajik citizens.

The attack “calls on all of us, especially parents, to once again pay even more serious attention to the education of children,” he was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

 

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

Moscow:

The Kremlin refused to comment Monday on the Islamic State group’s claims that it was behind the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades, as rescuers searched for bodies amid the rubble of the burnt-out Moscow concert hall.

At least 137 people were killed when gunmen in camouflage stormed Crocus City Hall, shooting spectators before setting the building on fire in the most fatal attack in Europe to have been claimed by Islamic State jihadists.

The group has said several times since Friday that it carried out the attack, and IS-affiliated media channels have published videos of the gunmen inside the venue shooting concert-goers.

But in his only public remarks on the massacre, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pointed to a possible Ukraine connection, and no senior Russian official has commented on the IS claims.

“The investigation is still ongoing. No coherent version has yet been voiced,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday when asked why Russia had not addressed IS’s claimed involvement.

“We are talking only about preliminary data. No version has been put forward yet,” he added.

Officials expect the death count to rise further, as rescuers were searching the site for remains on Monday and 97 are still in hospital.

‘Dealing with threats’

Putin has no plans to visit the site of the attack, on the northwestern edge of Moscow, Peskov said.

He will hold a meeting with Russia’s security chiefs, government officials and the heads of Moscow and the Moscow region later Monday.

The Kremlin also on Monday expressed confidence in the country’s powerful security agencies, as questions swirl over how they failed to thwart the massacre despite public and private warnings by the United States’ intelligence apparatus.

“Special services are working tirelessly, dealing with all the threats, all the challenges facing our country and society,” Peskov said.

Putin, a former Soviet spy, headed the FSB briefly before becoming president and takes pride in its reputation as a team of feared intelligence operators.

A Moscow court has remanded four suspected gunmen in custody on “terror” charges, accusing them of being the assailants who stormed the concert hall and then set it on fire on Friday night.

They face life in prison, though some Russian officials have called for the lifting of a moratorium on the death penalty to deliver even harsher sentences.

The Kremlin said Monday that it was not involved in discussions about possibly bringing back capital punishment.

Bloodied faces

In a series of late-night court hearings in Moscow that ran into the early hours of Monday, the four men — with bruises and cuts on their swollen faces — were dragged in amid dozens of reporters who had assembled at the capital’s Basmanny district court.

FSB officers wheeled one in to the hearing on a gurney, his eyes barely open.

Peskov refused to comment on reports and videos on social media that showed bloody interrogations of the suspects after they were arrested on Saturday.

The court identified them as Muhammadsobir Fayzov, Shamsidin Fariduni, Rachabalizoda Saidakrami and Dalerjon Mirzoyev. Russian state media said they were all citizens of Tajikistan.

Two of them pled guilty, the court said.

There has been no update on seven others Russia said it arrested in connection with the attack.

Removing rubble

At least 137 people, including three children, were killed, according to the latest toll by Russian investigators.

After walking through the theatre shooting spectators, the gunmen set fire to the building, trapping many inside.

Victims died both of gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.

More than 5,000 people were in the concert hall when the gunmen stormed in ahead of a sold-out rock concert, Russian state media cited a spokesperson from the venue owner as saying Monday.

Rescuers will continue sifting through the rubble and clearing debris at the site until Tuesday evening, said Andrey Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region.

“The task is to remove the rubble to make sure there are no bodies underneath,” Vorobyov said in a Telegram post.

Putin on Saturday vowed “retribution and oblivion” to the “terrorists, murderers and non-humans” who carried out the “barbaric terrorist act”.

He said the four assailants had been arrested while trying to flee to Ukraine, where they had secured a “window” to cross the border.

Mourning

The FSB has said the gunmen had “contacts” in Ukraine, without providing more details.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied any Ukrainian involvement.

The United States, which on March 7 warned about an “imminent” attack in Moscow by “extremists”, has said IS bears “sole responsibility”.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned Russia against “exploiting” the attack to blame Kyiv.

Russia observed a day of national mourning on Sunday, with dozens coming to lay flowers at a memorial to the victims, and tribute posters were erected on the sides of buildings and at transport stops across the country.

Russian schools were holding special lessons on “terrorism,” on Monday, with children wearing white ribbons in honour of the victims, state TV presenters said in a news bulletin.

 

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

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Congress on March 23 condemned the “dastardly” terror attack in Moscow and said “we strongly stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Russia”.

“Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on March 22 and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing more than 60 people, injuring more than 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack,” according to media reports.

Also read | India stands in solidarity with Russia in this hour of grief, says PM Modi on Moscow terror attack

In a post on X, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The Indian National Congress strongly condemns the “dastardly” terrorist attack on innocent people in Moscow. Terrorism is the biggest threat to humanity and peace. Our heart goes out to the families of the victims and in this hour of sorrow, we strongly stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Russia and the Russian Federation,” he said.

Media reports said the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its affiliated channels on social media.

More than 60 people were killed and about 115 others injured after gunmen opened fire at them in a Moscow concert hall, Russian authorities said, raising an earlier count of 40.

Here are the top 10 updates on this big story

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.)