Moscow attack: video captures gunmen storming concert hall and shooting dozens dead | BBC News

State security services say at least 40

people are dead and over a 100 injured

after a heavily armed gunman burst into

a packed theater near near Moscow an

open fire now it happened at the crocus

Concert Hall part of which is in Flames

after explosives were detonated Steve

Rosenberg our Russia editor has the very

latest from Moscow and there are some

upsetting scenes in his

report a Russian Concert Hall under

attack

gunman had stormed the venue near Moscow

the crocus City Hall they went on the

Rampage shooting their way through the

building and into the auditorium there

was supposed to be a rock concert

here instead

this the attackers walked through the

Stalls firing

indiscriminately dozens of people are

reported to have been killed they've set

the hall on fire the hall on fire he

says as more shots ring out then the

rush to

escape there's panic panic she says as

the crowds fled from the auditorium and

tried to get

out soon the whole building was

Ablaze the mayor of Moscow said it was a

terrible

tragedy the Russian foreign Ministry

called it a bloody terrorist

attack I saw how the terrorists came in

and started shooting everyone he says we

were led to an exit but it was locked we

ran around looking for a way out in the

end we went into the basement waited for

the Emergency

Services police and Russian Special

Forces rushed to the scene some of the

attackers are reported to have escaped

the search is on to find

them two weeks ago the US Embassy here

issued a warning that extremists plan to

Target large gatherings in Moscow

including concerts within 48 hours it's

not clear whether there's any connection

between that alert and this attack the

images are just horrible um and uh just

hard to watch and our thoughts obviously

are going to be with the the victims of

this terrible terrible shooting attack

who were the attackers there's been no

confirmation on their identities from

the Russian authorities but late tonight

Islamic State claimed responsib for the

attack the scale of Destruction and loss

of life is becoming clear after an

assault on civilians that has shocked

Russia shock the operative word Steve

any word tonight on the whereabouts of

the attackers did they get

away well the latest information we have

is they did get away possibly in a white

car so the search is on to find them who

were they ukra has said it had nothing

to do with this attack and as I

mentioned in that in that report a short

while ago there were reports that

Islamic State had claimed responsibility

for the attack on the concert hall uh

the Russian authorities have yet to

comment on that Vladimir Putin uh has

made no public comments on uh on what

happened at the kroer city Concert Hall

but we're told he's been kept up to dat

uh with uh with events there meanwhile

security has been stepped up here in the

Russian Capital at Key installations so

for example at airports uh at Railway

stations of course questions are already

being asked Clive how is it possible for

armed men to get into a a very prominent

concert venue uh where there were

potentially thousands of people

attending this concert and carry out

such a a bloody attack especially since

uh earlier this month uh us diplomats

had warned that some kind of attack on a

public gathering in Moscow possibly a

concert uh was imminent now the

Americans were talking about an attack

within 48 Hours it didn't happen but of

course what we've seen tonight in Moscow

was a terrible attack at least dozens of

people killed and an attack which has

shocked this whole country yeah Steve

briefly you mentioned Islamic State

claiming responsibility um is that a

shock a surprise potentially to people

where you are

well there were suggestions uh that uh

an is ATT Act was possible here so

perhaps it won't come as as so much of a

shock but as I say the search continues

for the attackers and perhaps we'll have

more information on this tomorrow sure

okay that the uh live shot there uh the

scene outside that concert hall security

of course incredibly stepped up thanks

Steve Steve Ros a book there in Moscow

let's get reaction from Washington with

Sarah Smith our North America editor uh

who is there and from Kev Sarah reinford

our Eastern Europe correspondent is

there too Sarah first of all what are

the White House saying about all

this well here um us officials are

saying that America does have

intelligence which they believe confirms

that Islamic State were responsible for

this attack uh and they believe um there

the statement made by um is our news

partner here in America CBS has a source

who says that there's been a steady

stream of intelligence dating as far

back as November saying that Isis wanted

to strike in Moscow and that that

intelligence was shared with the Russian

authorities under what's known as the

duty to warn so it's being assumed that

that warning um that the state

department put out that um Steve

Rosenberg referred to and telling

Americans to stay away from large

Gatherings including concerts because

the US was monitoring reports that

extremists were preparing to strike

imminently it's presumed that that was

related to this intelligence about uh

Islamic State wanting to strike in

Moscow okay Sarah reinford over to you

in Kev um the ukrainians were very quick

to make it clear they were not part of

this they were not

responsible yeah and I think of course

because Russia and Ukraine are at War it

was inevitable that some might suggest

that K was some way involved we have

heard very quickly from here from

officials in Kev that that is not the

case the foreign Ministry put out a

statement saying it categorically

rejects any kind of accusation of

Ukrainian involvement we heard from a

presidential adviser too saying Ukraine

has nothing to do with it he said there

was no way that Ukraine would attack

civilians in this way and that Ukraine's

war with Russia will be decided on the

battlefields now Ukrainian Military

Intelligence went much further and they

in fact accused Russia of staging this

attack saying it needs to bolster

support for its war and for mobilization

to find more soldiers to actually fight

uh for Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine

there is no evidence of that of course

these are two War the two countries very

much involved in an information and

psychological War as well as one on the

battlefield so there's a lot that's

still unclear but I can tell you that

here in Ukraine as the news of that

attack in Moscow was coming in there was

fear here because people were worried

that Ukraine would be blamed and that

that would have consequences here in

Ukraine that there could be an

escalation of Russia's war on Ukraine

more devastating attacks just after last

night we saw 150 missiles and drones

fired by Russia right across Ukraine

well the big question who was

responsible for what is now being called

the worst terror attack in Russia for

many years Gordon Carrera our security

correspondent is here so it seems as if

the finger of blame is being moved away

from Ukraine the Americans we heard

Sarah Smith suggest are claiming it was

Islamic State yes and in the last hour

we've had this statement from so-called

Islamic State Isis saying they were

responsible and that their attackers had

somehow got back to their bases safely

was the language they use now we can't

independently confirm that at this point

and occasionally we've seen false claims

from the group in the past so we have to

have a bit of caution however I think it

was always a strong possibility why well

the nature of this attack Maring gunmen

going around trying to kill as many

civilians as possible that is the kind

of thing we've seen Isis doing in the

past for instance we saw it at a concert

in Paris in 2015 at the batter Clan

theater something very similar so we'll

have to wait for further confirmation

very important to see what Moscow said

as we heard there from Sarah reinford

and Sarah Smith there's been this

question and concern that perhaps the

Russians might try and blame Ukraine for

it and what would that mean and because

you've got this intelligence that the US

clearly had pointing to a possible

attack around March 7th on a concert now

that is significant because it's suggest

the US might have intercepted

Communications or had some kind of

intelligence pointing to this but the

Russians appear to have dismissed it

publicly after the Americans went public

so that's going to raise big questions

for Moscow about what they knew and how

seriously they took it which might

explain why we haven't heard from

Vladimir Putin as yet so to be clear the

Americans would have communicated this

intelligence to the Russians despite the

enmity between the both sides well

that's right I mean they made it public

so they made it public and they put it

on their website for US citizens there

that there was this warning and the

Russians dismissed it in a statement

they described it as propaganda so I

think that will raise questions there's

always that question after an attack

like this could it have been stopped but

here if there's signs that a warning was

dismissed that could be very awkward for

Moscow and very difficult so I think

it'll be very important to see what

Vladimir Putin says and how Moscow

responds to this sure indeed okay Gordon

thank you Gordon Carrera our security

correspondent there