President Putin called the incident a ‘bloody, barbaric terrorist act.’
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has declared a national day of mourning as officials said all four suspects involved in the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall had been arrested, with the death toll rising to 133.
“I declare March 24 a day of nationwide mourning,” President Putin said in a televised address to the nation on March 23, in his first public remarks since the attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, which he called a “bloody, barbaric terrorist act.”
The Russian Investigative Committee provided an update on Saturday on the death toll.
“As the rubble was being removed in the concert hall of the Crocus City Hall, the number of people killed in the attack has risen to 133. The search operation is underway,” the committee said in a statement, per Russian state media Tass.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Saturday that a total of 11 people have been detained in connection with the incident, “including four terrorists, who directly participated in the terrorist attack.”
The FSB said that it has determined that the attack was “carefully planned” and that the attackers had placed the weapons they used in a cache ahead of time.
“Work is underway to identify terrorist accomplices and establish all the circumstances of the attack,” the FSB said.
Friday’s attack came about two weeks after Western countries, including the United States, issued terror warnings and told their citizens not to attend any public gatherings in Russia.
“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the U.S. Embassy in Russia said in a March 7 alert.
President Putin dismissed the warnings from Western embassies as a “provocation.”
Blame Game
The Russian president said in his televised address that the attackers tried to cross the border into Ukraine, which he said sought to create a “window” to help them escape.
“They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,” he said.
By Tom Ozimek
