Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to punish those behind a “barbaric terrorist attack” on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people, saying Russia had arrested four gunmen who tried to flee to Ukraine. Were trying to.
Kiev has strongly denied any connection, and Putin made no reference to claims of responsibility by the Islamic State group (IS) in his first public comments on the attack.
On Friday evening, disguised gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall in the northern Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk and then set the building on fire, killing at least 133 people.
The jihadist group claimed the attack, writing on a Telegram channel on Saturday that it was carried out by “four IS fighters armed with a machine gun, a pistol, knives and firebombs” as part of a “fierce war” with “countries fighting Islam.” Was done by.” ,
It is the deadliest attack in Russia in nearly two decades and the deadliest in Europe for which IS has claimed responsibility.
Russian officials fear the death toll will rise, with more than 100 injured in hospital.
“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans… have only one unfortunate fate: retribution and oblivion,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation on Saturday.