Russia detains 11 suspects after deadly attack on Moscow theatre

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Russia’s FSB security service has arrested 11 people it said were responsible for an attack at a Moscow rock concert that killed at least 115 people.

The FSB on Saturday added that the four men directly involved in the shooting were among the group detained.

News agencies reported that the Isis terror group claimed responsibility for the attack. US officials said they had no reason to doubt the credibility of the claim.

But Russian politicians and state media hinted on Saturday that Ukraine, which Vladimir Putin invaded two years ago, was involved in the attack.

Officials from the security agency said they had detained the gunmen, who were caught in dashcam footage arriving at the scene in a white Renault car, in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.

The FSB claimed the men were trying to flee from Russia to Ukraine, and said they had “relevant contacts” there. Kyiv has denied any involvement in the attack.

Baza, an anonymous channel on the Telegram messaging app close to the Russian police, said the assailants were believed to be from Tajikistan, a Central Asian country that has witnessed Isis activity in the past. Its foreign ministry denied the reports.

A video also circulated on Telegram of Russian security services detaining and interrogating a man from Tajikistan by the roadside in the Bryansk region.

The Friday night assault on Crocus City Hall shocked Russia and led to an outpouring of grief, with memorials springing up across the country for victims who were attending a rock concert.

The Russian Investigative Committee said on Saturday the death toll was expected to climb.

“Today, at 06:30am, emergency rescue services entered the building where the horrific incidents took place. I just returned from there. We see that the situation there is extremely bad,” Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyev said.

“The number of victims will rise significantly,” he added.

Many people were shot and killed by the four gunmen dressed in camouflage as they stormed through the building while others died in a blaze that tore through the venue after the attackers set off explosions in the hall.

Images shared by emergency services on Saturday morning showed firefighters removing the charred structure of the seating in the main auditorium, where people had hidden between the chairs when the shooting began.

The shooting rampage was the largest loss of life in a terrorist attack in Russia in at least a decade, and recalled the Islamist insurgencies that marked the first decade of Putin’s rule.

Putin has not made any statement on the attack. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “all the essential instructions have been given by the president”.

Friday’s attack will bring back memories for Moscow residents of the Nord-Ost siege, when Chechen fighters took hundreds of people hostage in a Moscow theatre in 2002, leading to the deaths of more than 170 people.

The US embassy in Moscow and six other western countries’ missions issued alerts in early March warning about attacks on public venues, including concerts, in the next 48 hours.

Shortly after the attack on Friday night, Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Crocus City Hall had suffered a “horrible tragedy” and cancelled all big public events in the capital planned for the weekend. Several other Russian cities followed suit.

Other images shared on social media on Saturday showed emergency services walking through the charred remains of the concert venue between pools of blood on the floor.

The US embassy in Moscow said it was “shocked” by news of the attack and expressed “sincere condolences to the Russian people”.