星空传媒

Skip to main content

The death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack rises to 143, while 80 others remain hospitalized

Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo) Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)
Share
MOSCOW -

The death toll from last week's Moscow concert hall attack rose to 143, Russian authorities said Wednesday. Around 80 other people wounded in the siege by gunmen remain hospitalized.

The Friday night massacre in Crocus City Hall, a sprawling shopping and entertainment venue on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, was the deadliest extremist attack on Russian soil in nearly two decades. At least four gunmen toting automatic rifles shot at thousands of concertgoers and set the venue on fire.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the violence, while U.S. intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France also has intelligence pointing to 鈥渁n IS entity鈥 as responsible for the attack.

The updated fatalities from Russia鈥檚 Emergencies Ministry didn't state the number of wounded, but Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said earlier Wednesday that 80 people were in hospitals and another 205 had sought medical treatment from the attack.

Russia's Federal Security Service, or the FSB, said it had arrested 11 people the day after the attack, including four suspected gunmen. The four men, identified as Tajik nationals, appeared in a Moscow court on Sunday on terrorism charges and showed signs of severe beatings. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing.

Russian officials, however, have insisted that Ukraine and the West had a role, claims that Kyiv vehemently denies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of trying to drum up fervor as his forces fight in Ukraine.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov has also alleged, without providing evidence, that Western spy agencies could have been involved. He repeated Putin鈥檚 claim that the four gunmen were trying to escape to Ukraine when they were arrested, casting it as proof of Kyiv's alleged involvement.

But that assertion was undercut by Belarus鈥 authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who said Tuesday that the suspects were headed for Ukraine because they feared tight controls on the Belarus border.

Rescuers work in the burned concert hall after a terrorists attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service)

The Islamic State group, which lost much of its territory following Russia鈥檚 military action in Syria after 2015, has long targeted Russia. In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian jetliner over the Sinai desert, killing all 224 people aboard, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia鈥檚 volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It has recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

The United States warned Moscow two weeks before the massacre about a possible imminent attack. Three days before the tragedy, Putin denounced the U.S. Embassy鈥檚 notice on March 7 urging Americans to avoid crowds in Moscow, including concerts, calling it an attempt to frighten Russians and 鈥渂lackmail鈥 the Kremlin before the Russian presidential election.

Bortnikov said Russia was thankful for the warning but described it as very general. 

CTVNews.ca 星空传媒

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.