What We Know about the Shooting at a Concert Venue Near Moscow

A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
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What We Know about the Shooting at a Concert Venue Near Moscow

A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)
A Russian policeman guards near the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024. (EPA)

Armed men burst into the Crocus City Hall near Moscow on Friday, killing at least 93 people and injuring many dozens more in the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege.

What do we know about the attack?

THE ATTACK

The men, armed with Kalashnikov automatic weapons, arrived at the Crocus City Hall at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT) in a minivan. Russian media said there were up to five men.

Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov informed President Vladimir Putin that there were four attackers, the Kremlin said.

They began shooting civilians at point-blank range. They shot people through the glass doors near the entrance turnstiles to the venue, witnesses said, then moved on towards the concert hall itself.

Videos showed the men shooting screaming civilians with automatic weapons. Bodies were then seen motionless.

As people took their seats for a concert by Soviet-era rock group "Picnic", shooting could be heard inside the 6,200-seat hall where all the tickets had been sold out. The group had been planning to perform their new hit "Afraid of Nothing."

The attackers were shown on videos from the scene methodically shooting at concertgoers as people rushed for the exits.

The men then set fire to the concert hall, pouring a liquid on the curtains and chairs before igniting it.

Reuters video showed flames leaping above the hall and plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky as the blue lights of hundreds of emergency vehicles flashed across the night.

The fire, which spread across nearly 13,000 square meters took hours to contain. The roof collapsed.

DEATH TOLL

Russia's investigative committee said on Saturday the death toll was 93.

Some sources said 145 people were injured. The Moscow Region said 121 people had been wounded. Earlier it had said 60 of the injured were in a critical condition.

RESPONSIBILITY

ISIS, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's Amaq agency said on Telegram.

"ISIS fighters attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely," the statement said.

The United States has intelligence confirming ISIS’s claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting at a concert near Moscow, two US officials said on Friday.

The officials said the United States had warned Russia in recent weeks about the possibility of an attack - a move they said prompted the US embassy in Moscow to issue a warning to Americans.

Two weeks ago the US embassy in Russia warned that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.

Hours before the embassy warning, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by ISIS’s affiliate in Afghanistan, which is known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K and seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

"We did warn the Russians appropriately," one of the US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

THE ATTACKERS

Russian media said there were five men. Reuters was unable to confirm just how many there were.

Russian investigators showed pictures from inside the hall showing an automatic weapon, vests with multiple spare magazines and bags of spent bullet casings that had been collected from the scene.

A grainy picture was published by some Russian media of two of the alleged attackers in a white car.

The FSB said 11 people had been detained, including all four of the attackers.

Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, a former journalist, said that the white Renault used by the suspects was found in a village in the Bryansk region, about 340 km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow.

"One terrorist was detained on the spot, the rest fled into the forest," Khinshtein said.

He said a pistol, a Kalashnikov magazine and passports of Tajik citizens were found in the car. Reuters was unable to verify that information.



Poland Will Not Send Its Troops to Iran, PM Tusk Says

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
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Poland Will Not Send Its Troops to Iran, PM Tusk Says

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)

Poland ‌will not send troops to Iran as the conflict does not directly affect its security, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday, adding that the United States and other powers understood Warsaw's decision.

US President Donald Trump called on allies over the weekend ‌to help ‌secure the Strait of ‌Hormuz ⁠as Iranian forces continue ⁠attacks on the vital waterway amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its third week.

Poland's government "does not plan any expedition to Iran, and this ⁠does not raise any ‌doubts on ‌the part of our allies," Tusk said ‌before a government meeting.

He said ‌this covered Poland's land, air and naval forces, which are still being built up in the face ‌of the conflict over the border in Ukraine.

Tusk said securing ⁠the ⁠Baltic Sea remained a central element of Poland's strategy.

A number of other US allies, including Germany, Spain and Italy, have said they have no immediate plans to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut with attacks and threats of attacks.


Oil Tankers ‘Starting to Dribble Through’ Strait of Hormuz, Says White House

Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Oil Tankers ‘Starting to Dribble Through’ Strait of Hormuz, Says White House

Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Oil tankers are crossing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's actions to choke traffic through the shipping route have not hurt the US economy, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday, reiterating the Trump administration's position that the war should be over in weeks, not months.

"Already you're seeing tankers are starting to dribble through the straits, and I think ‌it's a ‌sign of how little Iran has ‌left," ⁠he said.

"We're very ⁠optimistic that this is going to be over in the short run, and then there will be price repercussions when it is over for a few weeks, as the ships make it to the refineries."

Hassett said there ⁠is concern that Asia may not ‌be exporting as much ‌refined oil to the US to handle a decrease in ‌supply from the Middle East.

"We're seeing ‌some signs that they might be pulling that back to make sure that they have enough energy for themselves. And we've got a plan for that," ‌he said.

Trump on Monday postponed his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping ⁠to focus ⁠on the war in Iran.

Hassett said the US action in Iran is in China's interest.

"This is one case where the objectives of both countries are aligned, that we want, you know, a stable world oil market," he said. "When this war is over, which will be sometime soon, I'm sure they'll get together and have a lot to talk about, and hopefully when the Chinese will express some gratitude."


Albania Designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as ‘Terrorist’

Iranians attend the funeral of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders, army commanders and others killed in the early days of the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, at Enghelab Square in Tehran on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Iranians attend the funeral of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders, army commanders and others killed in the early days of the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, at Enghelab Square in Tehran on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Albania Designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as ‘Terrorist’

Iranians attend the funeral of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders, army commanders and others killed in the early days of the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, at Enghelab Square in Tehran on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Iranians attend the funeral of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders, army commanders and others killed in the early days of the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, at Enghelab Square in Tehran on March 11, 2026. (AFP)

Albania on Tuesday designated Iran's Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist organization" and Iran as a state "supporting terrorism" as the Middle East war raged on.

The Balkan nation's ruling Socialist party used its parliamentary majority to adopt a resolution to designate the ideological arm of the Iranian military despite an opposition boycott.

"The Albanian parliament declares the Islamic Republic of Iran a state that supports terrorism and a state that uses terrorist means in the pursuit of its foreign policy objectives," the resolution said.

The document also condemned cyberattacks believed to be carried out by Iran-linked hackers against its institutions, including an incident earlier this month targeting its parliamentary IT system.

A cyberattack in 2022 triggered Tirana to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.

Albania has for years hosted several thousand members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), an exiled Iranian opposition group considered as "terrorist" by Tehran.

The United States has already designated the Guards as a "terrorist organization".

The European Union followed in January after the deadly crackdown carried out by the authorities against Iranian protesters.