Islamic extremists raided Moscow concert hall but attack masterminds yet to be found: Putin

Putin said investigators have not determined who ordered attack but it was necessary to ‘find out why the terrorists … tried to flee to Ukraine’

Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed it carried out the attack; US intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible

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Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. Photo: Kremlin / dpa

Published: 5:33am, 26 Mar 2024Updated: 5:40am, 26 Mar 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the gunmen who killed 139 people at a suburban Moscow concert hall are “radical Islamists”, but he repeated his accusation that Ukraine could have played role despite its strong denials.

Speaking in a meeting with government officials, Putin said the killings were carried out by extremists “whose ideology the Islamic world has been fighting for centuries”.

Putin, who declared over the weekend that the four attackers were arrested while trying to escape to Ukraine, said investigators have not determined who ordered the attack, but that it was necessary to find out “why the terrorists after committing their crime tried to flee to Ukraine and who was waiting for them there”.

People queue to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the Crocus City Hall shooting, at the concert venue in Moscow, Russia on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed it carried out the attack, and United States intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France has intelligence pointing to “an IS entity” as responsible for the attack.

Macron said the IS entity believed to be behind the killings – known as Khorasan, which is a branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan – had also sought to attack France.

“We are seeing that the US, through various channels, is trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to their intelligence, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terror attack – that the bloody terrorist act was committed by followers of Islam, members of the Islamic State group,” Putin said during a meeting with top police officials.