Russia Gets United in Protest against Terror; Death Toll Rises to 133

A candlelight vigil was held to honour the victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, located on the western edge of Moscow. As many as 11 people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall and opened fire on the crowd, Russian state news agency Tass said.

Moscow: At least 133 people succumbed to death while several others were left wounded in the terror attack that erupted at Crocus City Hall, located on the western edge of Moscow, on March 22.

In the wake of the incident, declaring national mourning, Russian President Vladimir Putin held Ukraine responsible for the most deadly attack over the years. In his address to the nation, Putin asserted that the terrorists would face serious consequences and retribution for the huge number of deaths. He said that Russians were shot dead in a manner of cruel Nazi-style attack.

Meanwhile, a day after the horrifying incident, people laid flowers and lit candles standing next to the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow.

Images shared by Russian state media showed a fleet of emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of Crocus City Hall, a shopping mall and music venue with a capacity of more than 6,000 people in Krasnogorsk, on Moscow's western edge.

At least eleven people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow and opened fire on the crowd, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Friday's attack came just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. The attack was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country's fight in Ukraine dragged into a third year.

Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. The roof of the theater, where crowds had gathered Friday for a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning as firefighters spent hours fighting a fire that erupted during the attack.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated social media channels, although neither the Kremlin nor Russian security services have officially assigned blame for the attack.

In a statement posted by its Aamaq news agency, the Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan said it had attacked a large gathering of "Christians" in Krasnogorsk. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim.

However, a U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had confirmed that IS was responsible for the attack.

The official said U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that the IS branch was planning an attack in Moscow and that U.S. officials had privately shared the intelligence earlier this month with Russian officials.

The official was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence information and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Messages of outrage, shock, and support for those affected have since streamed in from around the world.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council condemned "the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack" and underlined the need for the perpetrators to be held accountable. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the terrorist attack "in the strongest possible terms," his spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in Moscow itself, hundreds of people stood in line Saturday morning to donate blood and plasma, Russia's health ministry said.

Putin, who extended his grip on Russia for another six years in this week's presidential vote after a sweeping crackdown on dissent, had publicly denounced the Western warnings of a potential terrorist attack as an attempt to intimidate Russians. "All that resembles open blackmail and an attempt to frighten and destabilize our society," he said earlier this week.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by the Islamic State downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt. The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, has claimed several attacks in Russia's volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past few years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

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