Moscow terror attack: IS releases new videos as Russia blames Ukraine

Islamic State yesterday released new videos of the attack on the Crocus City concert hall outside Moscow that left 137 people dead, doubling down on its claim that it masterminded the attack even as Russia has sought to place the blame on Ukraine.

The Moscow terrorist shooting is the deadliest IS-claimed attack to date on European soil and the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege.

The videos, which were published by IS's news agency Amaq, showed the gunmen filming themselves as they hunted concertgoers through the lobby of the Crocus City Hall and fired at them from point-blank range, killing scores of people. At one point, one of the gunmen tells another to "kill them and have no mercy".

Russia observed a national day of mourning yesterday for the victims of the carnage.

President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those behind the "barbaric terrorist attack", saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had been arrested.

Kyiv has strongly denied any connection to the attack, with President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Putin of trying to shift the blame.

Putin, in his only public remarks on the attack, made no reference to IS's claims of responsibility.

At least 137 people, including three children, were killed when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow's northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, and then set fire to the building on Friday evening.

Russia's Investigative Committee yesterday said that guns and rounds of ammunition had been found both there and in a car that was used by the suspected gunmen to flee the scene.

The agency posted a video of the four suspects being dragged into its headquarters in Moscow. There was no statement on the other seven suspects arrested in connection with the attack.

Officials have not named the shooters, but said they were all foreign nationals.

The Islamic State group posted Saturday on Telegram that the attack was "carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and firebombs" as part of "the raging war" with "countries fighting Islam".

A video lasting about a minute and half, apparently filmed by the gunmen, has been posted on social media accounts typically used by IS, according to the SITE intelligence group.

The video, which appears to have been filmed from the lobby of the concert venue, shows several individuals with blurred faces and garbled voices, firing assault rifles with inert bodies strewn on the floor and a fire starting in the background.

Russian investigators said that after walking through the theatre shooting spectators, they set fire to the building, trapping many inside who died from smoke inhalation.

Russian officials expect the death toll to rise further, with 110 people still in hospital and 40 in "critical" or "extremely critical" condition.

The emergency situations ministry has so far named 29 of the victims, the blaze having complicated the process of identification.

The ministry yesterday posted a video of heavy equipment arriving at the venue to dismantle damaged structures and clear debris.

On the streets of the capital yesterday, there was shock and grief.

"It is a tragedy. I was morally crushed," Ruslana Baranovskaya, 35, told AFP.

"People don't smile... everybody feels the loss," said 73-year-old Valentina Karenina, a pensioner standing on a street off Red Square.

Museums, theatres and cinemas around the country were closed and billboards were replaced with memorial posters.

Mourners continued to stream to the concert hall in northwest Moscow to lay flowers as a tribute to the victims.

More than 5,000 people donated blood following the attack, officials said, with many standing in long queues outside clinics.

Putin on Saturday vowed "retribution and oblivion" to the "terrorists, murderers and non-humans" who carried out the "barbaric terrorist attack".

Several of his allies have called for the country to lift a moratorium on the death penalty, sparking concern among Kremlin critics.

Putin has pointed to a Ukraine connection and has not publicly addressed IS's claim of responsibility.

"They tried to escape and were travelling towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border," Putin said of the four attackers in a televised address to the nation on Saturday, his only public comments so far.

Washington again yesterday rejected that Kyiv was involved in the attack.

"ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson. "There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever."