Achi news desk-
Last Updated: March 23, 2024, 11:24 PM IST
Firefighters work at the burnt out concert hall after an attack on the Crocus City Hall building on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Press Service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry via AP)
The militant group said its fighters had killed “dozens of Christians” as part of its “furious war” with countries it said were fighting Islam.
The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group said on Saturday that four of its militants carried out an attack on a concert hall in a suburb of Moscow that Russian authorities said killed at least 133 people.
“The attack was carried out by four IS fighters with machine guns, pistols, knives and firebombs,” IS said on one of its Telegram channels.
The militant group said its fighters had killed “dozens of Christians” as part of its “furious war” with countries it said were fighting Islam.
The jihadists had already said on Friday night that they had carried out the attack, claiming that their fighters had “returned to the base safely”.
The Kremlin, which has not responded to the militant group’s claim, said 11 people had been arrested “including four terrorists” involved in the attack.
Russian officials have suggested the attackers had ties to Ukraine, a claim labeled “absurd” by Kyiv.
Russia is fighting IS in Syria and the jihadist group has also been present in the Muslim-majority Russian republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya.
The group has carried out attacks in Russia but has never before claimed to be behind such an atrocity.
