Russian day of mourning, as Putin says concert attackers arrested

More than 140 people were injured in the stampede. The stampede took place in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 people in the centre of Moscow. The event was organised by a group called the Russian National Council of People’s Militia. The group was set up to counter the growing threat posed by the Islamic State.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said all four gunmen who carried out the attack have been arrested. Mr Putin condemned the massacre as a “barbaric terrorist act. He repeated earlier suggestions by Russian security services that the attackers had tried to escape to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Mr Putin of seeking to blame Ukraine for the attack.

The US National Security Council said it warned Russia of a potential IS attack on large gatherings in Moscow earlier this month. BBC has been able to match details of two of the alleged attackers who appear in the IS video and an IS-released still image to videos of the arrested suspects posted on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels. Up to 6,200 people were gathered for a Friday night concert by veteran band Picnic. One video posted online showed several men striding across the concourse.

The Kremlin at the time dismissed that as an attempt by Washington to meddle in the recent Russian election. Gunmen were seen firing into the auditorium. Others were seen taking cover behind their seats. A fire was later seen engulfing the hall’s roof and facade.

Tass state news agency reported that around a third of the building had been set alight. The Russian Investigative Committee said that the attackers used flammable liquid to set fire to sections of the concert hall. The deaths of the victims were caused by gunshot wounds and poisoning by combustion products, the committee said. A makeshift memorial was set up outside the hall where Muscovites lit candles and laid flowers.