MOSCOW, March 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia will observe a national day of
mourning on Sunday after a massacre in a Moscow concert hall that killed more
than 130 people, the deadliest attack in Europe to have been claimed by the
Islamic State (IS) group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those behind the
"barbaric terrorist attack", saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had
been arrested.

Kyiv has strongly denied any connection, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky accusing Putin of trying to shift the blame onto them.

Putin, in his first public remarks on the attack, made no reference to a
statement by IS claiming responsibility.

At least 133 people were killed when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus
City Hall, in Moscow's northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, and then set fire to
the building on Friday evening.

The Islamic State group wrote on Telegram Saturday that the attack was
"carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives
and firebombs," as part of "the raging war" with "countries fighting Islam".

It is the deadliest attack in Russia for almost two decades.

Russian officials expect the death toll to rise further, with more than 100
wounded in hospital.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said rescue
workers were still pulling bodies from the burnt-out building on Saturday.

The emergency situations ministry has so far named 29 of the victims, the
blaze having complicated the process of identification.

The ministry posted a video Sunday of heavy equipment arriving at the scene
of the fire to dismantle damaged structures and clear debris.

- 'Barbaric' -

"Terrorists, murderers, non-humans ... have only one unenviable fate:
retribution and oblivion," Putin said in his televised address Saturday.

Calling the attack a "barbaric, terrorist act", he said "all four direct
perpetrators ... all those who shot and killed people, have been found and
detained".

Russian television showed security services interrogating four bloodied men,
who spoke Russian with an accent, on a road in the western Bryansk region,
which borders both Ukraine and Belarus.

"They tried to escape and were travelling towards Ukraine, where, according
to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to
cross the state border," said Putin.

Zelensky, in his evening address Saturday, dismissed the suggestion that Kyiv
had been involved.

"What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious," he said. "Putin and the other
scum are just trying to blame it on someone else."

Russia has arrested 11 people in connection with the attack, the FSB security
service said. Earlier, the agency had said the attackers had "contacts" in
Ukraine, without elaborating.

- Site search to continue -

Putin declared Sunday a day of national mourning.

And he promised: "All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this
crime will be justly and inevitably punished."

The Investigative Committee said the death toll had so far reached 133 and
the governor of the Moscow region said rescuers would continue to scour the
site for "several days."

Some 107 people were still in hospital, many in a critical condition, Deputy
Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

IS had first claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday night, repeating
its claim again on Saturday.

Some witnesses filmed the gunmen from the upper floors as they walked through
the stalls shooting people, sharing the footage on social media.

Then "the terrorists used a flammable liquid to set fire to the concert
hall's premises, where spectators were located, including wounded," the
Investigative Committee said.

Investigators said people died both from gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation
after a fire engulfed the 6,000-seater venue.

Investigators said a man who jumped on one of the gunmen as he was shooting
at the concert-goers, "immobilising" him and thus "saving the lives of people
around him" would receive an award.

- Blood donation queues -

Putin did not address IS's claim of responsibility in his first public
remarks Saturday, which came more than 18 hours after the start of the
attack.

But in Washington, a statement from the White House condemning the attack
described the group as a "common terrorist enemy that must be defeated
everywhere".

The head of the state-run RT media outlet, Margarita Simonyan, posted two
videos of interrogations of two handcuffed suspects. They both admitted to
the attack but did not say who had organised it.

The interior ministry said all four of the suspected gunmen were foreign
nationals.

Russian Telegram channels -- including those with links to the security
services -- said they were from Tajikistan, a country that borders
Afghanistan and where the jihadist group is active.

Tajikistan's foreign ministry told Russia's TASS news agency it was in close
contact with Moscow over the matter.

In Moscow, residents stood in long lines in the rain to donate blood for
those hospitalised, and mourners came to lay flowers outside the concert
hall.

Memorial posters featuring a single candle replaced some advertising
billboards in the capital and major events were cancelled across the country.

- US warning dismissed -

Just three days earlier, Putin had publicly dismissed a US warning of an
"imminent" attack in Moscow as propaganda designed to scare Russian citizens.

The US embassy in Russia had warned on March 7 that "extremists have imminent
plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts", advising
caution over the following 48 hours.

Washington said after the attack it had also shared details directly with
Moscow.

But speaking to FSB chiefs last Tuesday, Putin had called it a "provocative"
statement and "outright blackmail... to intimidate and destabilise our
society".