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.



China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
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China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)

China opposes any outside interference in Iran's ​internal affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington ‌would take "very ‌strong action" ‌against Tehran.

China ⁠does ​not ‌condone the use or the threat of force in international relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson at ⁠the Chinese foreign ministry, said ‌at a ‍regular ‍news conference when ‍asked about China's position following Trump's comments.

Trump told CBS News in ​an interview that the United States would take "very ⁠strong action" if Iran starts hanging protesters.

Trump also urged protesters to keep protesting and said that help was on the way.


South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
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South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)

The South Korean president's top advisor vowed on Wednesday to punish whoever is found responsible for a recent drone incursion into North Korea, after a furious Pyongyang demanded an apology.

North Korea accused the South over the weekend of sending a drone across their shared border into the city of Kaesong this month, releasing photos of debris from what it said was the downed aircraft.

And on Tuesday the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, demanded an apology over the incident from the "hooligans of the enemy state" responsible.

Seoul has denied any involvement but has left open the possibility that civilians may have flown the drone, a position reiterated by National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on Wednesday.

"Our understanding so far is that neither the military nor the government carried out such an operation," Wi told reporters on the sidelines of a summit between the leaders of South Korea and Japan in the Japanese city of Nara.

"That leaves us the task to investigate if someone from the civilian sector may have done it," he said.

"If there is anything that warrants punishment, then there should be punishment."

South and North Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Wi noted that despite Pyongyang's criticism and its demand for an apology, the North has also sent its own drones into South Korea.

"There have been incidents in which their drones fell near the Blue House, and others that reached Yongsan," he said, referring to the current and former locations of the presidential offices.

"These, too, are violations of the Armistice Agreement," he said.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a joint military-police probe into the drone case.

Any civilian involvement would be "a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula", he warned.


Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
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Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)

The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from US President Donald Trump.

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon.

Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 revolution.

Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television online.

“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly," he said. “If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”

His comments stand as a direct challenge to Trump, who warned Iran about executions an interview with CBS aired Tuesday. “We will take very strong action,” Trump said. “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”

Meanwhile, activists said Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran. The satellite internet service has been key in getting around an internet shutdown launched by the theocracy on Jan. 8. Iran began allowing people to call out internationally on Tuesday via their mobile phones, but calls from people outside the country into Iran remain blocked.

“We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran. “We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.”

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Security service personnel also apparently were searching for Starlink dishes, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.