It’s 3 pm Central as I’m writing this, so there could well be more updates before posting time. But what we know so far is that, a few hours ago, gunmen entered one of the largest concert halls in a suburb known as Moscow Oblast and opened fire on the crowd within.
There were also explosions reported.
The concert hall is connected to a large shopping mall. That was seen erupting into flames as panicked shoppers and concertgoers escaped, and drivers on the roadway next to it videoed the scene.
#BREAKING Suspected terror attack reported in Moscow.
There has been a shooting at Crocus City Hall in Moscow.
Hundreds of people were in the building at the time of the attack.
At least 3 attackers active.
After the shooting, the concert hall was engulfed in flames.… pic.twitter.com/6s0hwc9Bni
— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 22, 2024
At last count there were over 40 (now reporting up to as many as 60) dead and at least 100 injured, but the fire is making rescue and retrieval difficult.
BREAKING:
Parts of the roof have started collapsing at the Crocus City Hall concert hall and shopping mall.
More than 60 people have been killed in the terror attack near Moscow pic.twitter.com/HNqWSmpkyS
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 22, 2024
The video which has been coming out of the attack is horrifying.
Russians trying to escape run into closed emergency exits in Crocus in Moscow during terror attack. pic.twitter.com/gZroeQiQj5
— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 22, 2024
To my ear – and, as I fed him tweets over Messenger, our son Ebola’s once he’d watched – it doesn’t sound like random terrorists spraying the crowd indiscriminately.
BREAKING:
At least 40 killed in a terror attacker near Moscow.
The attack is underway at a shopping center and concert hall. Multiple attackers armed with automatic rifles and explosives reported. pic.twitter.com/9pT1PaWDuj
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 22, 2024
He sent:
I’ll need to find a clearer copy, but that sounds and looks like pros shooting. Not ragtag militia.
They’re not spazzing and spray. That is calm, cool, deliberate….very spetznas
Almost immediately after I read that, THIS ghastly video appeared, and it is everything we were discussing. If you can bear to – because it is truly barbaric – watch the gunmen as they practically stroll through the lobby of the mall. There is no hurry, no rush. The only fellow even moving quickly is the guy in the rear, and he’s only trying to catch up. No one is running away or out a door.
It is as cold-blooded a slaughter as I have ever seen.
NOBODY IS RUNNING. None of the gunmen are in any hurry. It’s as if they’re just sauntering through the lobby, maintaining clear and cover, doing clean-up and when they notice movement, someone DIES.
Ruthlessly and efficiently.
This is NOT a spazzy ad hoc militia attack.These… https://t.co/0cwO1Dj940
— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) March 22, 2024
Russian police have reportedly snagged one gunman.
One shooter is arrested in #Moscow terror attack. pic.twitter.com/gjUNGKCGgp
— Mr Sinha (Modi’s family) (@MrSinha_) March 22, 2024
But holy moly, this is a catastrophe.
First, may the good Lord hold all the victims and their families close in the palm of His hand.
But second, what happens from here could be a bigger fire than the one Russian special forces are dumping water on.
In addition, remember it was only two weeks ago that the US warned Putin that there were murmurings of terrorist attacks in the works, and Putin publicly scoffed.
The State media report of Putin dismissing the terrorism warnings is still online.
Link to the archived copy in case it is deleted.
(Note Screenshot in my 1st tweet = machine translated)
Via @internetarchive @waybackmachine https://t.co/Rz86oIJsP1 pic.twitter.com/BfZpdPC5VP— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 22, 2024
Does Putin try to blame the US for facilitating this because we “knew” about them?
Was it Ukrainians? If so, why now? They’ve had forever to try something in Russia on this scale but haven’t.
Suspicious fingers also have to point to Putin himself, who is perfectly capable of murdering his countrymen to score points on the international stage. It is entirely plausible that those were his troops carrying out a false flag in order to blame Ukrainian operatives and force a wider, even deadlier conflict.
The attack also took place in a suburb, not the heart of Moscow. Was that a strategic choice?
Don’t forget – the Russian cops do have that one live body to work over.
Then there’s another possibility emerging, kind of in the “blast from the past” category: The Ingush.
THE WHO?
Incoming reports of Russian security services looking for a number of men from Ingushetia suspected of today’s deadly terror attack in Moscow pic.twitter.com/mRFoFAMOQl
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 22, 2024
Ingushetia in the North Caucasus shares land borders with Georgia to its south and the Russian republics of North Ossetia-Alania and Chechnya to its west and east. It is one of the republics that make up Russia.
The overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim and clan links are an integral part of society.
The Ingush and Chechen peoples have close historical, cultural and linguistic ties, although the Ingush have not shared in the fierceness of the resistance to Moscow put up by the Chechens over the past 200 years.
Two familiar words should jump out there: Chechens and Muslim.
The Ingush resistance to Moscow might not have been fierce previously, but perhaps that’s changed?
It’s interesting that two of the Russian GRU Spetsnaz (The Batmen of Russia) units also had significant Chechen components.
…Two of the most known GRU Spetsnaz units are Vostok and Zapad. Formed by the Russian Federation’s G.U. these two units utilized ethnic Chechen and Dagestani fighters. They fought in both Chechen Wars and the conflict in South Ossetia. Zapad covered the western part of Chechnya while Vostok was in the east. (Given their names mean West and East) (Source).
The purpose of these ethnically-driven units was similar to that of the Muslim Battalion. These fighters knew the area, the language, and the people around them, subsequently making them very important assets in the Chechen wars.
Spetsnaz training is legendary.
What a cast of possible culpable characters in that place.
This really is a ghastly who-done-it hornet’s nest.
The question is: Who is behind the terror attack in Moscow?
Fingers will pointing all over the place. pic.twitter.com/JpGGjkBrCP
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) March 22, 2024
One wrong move could send the whole world up.
**********************************************************
And at 5 pm Central, the news breaks, and wow.
ISIS
BREAKING: ISIS claims responsibility for the terror attack in Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin has not yet made a public statement about the attack on Crocus City Hall.
The U.S. seemed to have knowledge that an attack was coming considering on March 7th, the U.S. warned that… pic.twitter.com/txYeA1J8nd
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 22, 2024
Wow.
ISIS has now claimed Responsibility for the Terrorist Attack tonight on the Crocus Concert Hall in the Russian Capital of Moscow, with them stating that the Attack was specifically attempting to Target a Gathering of Christians. pic.twitter.com/alUpZV4yqO
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 22, 2024
Since this is still developing, I’ll be adding updates if any come along.
Great time to have a wide-open border of our own.