Russia’s Federal Security Service says over 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in an attack at a Moscow concert hall.

Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had learned the group’s branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and shared the information with Russian officials.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which state investigators were investigating as terrorism.

The attack, which left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof, was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine dragged into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “huge tragedy.”

  • qooqie@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    When I first saw the news of this I for sure thought Putin was going to use this as a casus belli to invade more nations. Now that ISIS has claimed responsibility I’m not so sure

    • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
      0·
      6 months ago

      This is interesting, especially since we haven’t heard much from ISIS in several years and that the US warned Russia about it ahead of time.

      Now, I’ll just speculate.

      The US was helping Ukraine. Then Iran backed an attack by Hamas on Israel, which gave the US a distraction to deal with from supporting Ukraine. There was speculation that Russia pushed Iran to push Hamas to do the attack for this very reason.

      Now, US intelligence could be playing the same game. With this attack, Russia has a hard time selling Ukraine as the biggest threat to Russian people. They’re under attack by ISIS terrorists. Surely, this will take some focus off of the Ukraine war and put pressure on Putin to counter ISIS. Somehow the US did have foreknowledge of the attack…

      Of course this is all just speculation, but if we’re trying to think like covert ops and play 4D chess, it could make sense.

      • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
        0·
        6 months ago

        Iran denies being involved in Hamas attack on Israel and had no interest in a further escalation, so it is unlikely that they pushed for it. Russia made deals with Israel, that Israel stays out of sanctions against Russia in return for Russia letting Israel attack Iranian proxies in Syria. Also Israeli drones are used by the russian military and have been shot down over Ukraine.

        Iran is very much not happy with how Russia lets Israel bomb them in Syria. They most definetely dont trust Russia enough to take such a risk.

        The one who have an interest in blaming October 7 on Iran are Israel and War Hawks in US politics, who want a war with Iran and justify unconditional support of Israel.