At least 40 people were killed and 145 wounded on Friday when camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire on concertgoers near Moscow, with Islamic State claiming responsibility for what was one of the deadliest attacks on Russia in decades.
Several gunmen began shooting civilians who were cowering in the Crocus City Hall just before Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" was about to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat theatre in a suburb west of Moscow.
Verified video showed people taking their seats in the hall then rushing for the exits as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Other video showed men shooting at groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said about 40 people were killed, while a regional ministry said 145 were wounded. The FSB said extra security measures were imposed.
The death toll, which looked set to rise according to unconfirmed reports, made it one of the worst attacks on Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage.
Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.
Islamic State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, "killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely."
The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 20 km (12 miles) from the Kremlin, comes just two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.
Hours before the embassy warning, the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by the Afghan arm of Islamic State, which is known as ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the shooting, a U.S. official said. The official also said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.
Several gunmen began shooting civilians who were cowering in the Crocus City Hall just before Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" was about to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat theatre in a suburb west of Moscow.
Verified video showed people taking their seats in the hall then rushing for the exits as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Other video showed men shooting at groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said about 40 people were killed, while a regional ministry said 145 were wounded. The FSB said extra security measures were imposed.
The death toll, which looked set to rise according to unconfirmed reports, made it one of the worst attacks on Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage.
Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.
Islamic State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, "killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely."
The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 20 km (12 miles) from the Kremlin, comes just two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.
Hours before the embassy warning, the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by the Afghan arm of Islamic State, which is known as ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the shooting, a U.S. official said. The official also said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.
