Flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
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That person was one of five still hospitalised in “extremely grave condition”, and the doctors “did everything they could” to save them, Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

A total of 80 people injured in the attack remain hospitalised, the official added, and 205 others have sought outpatient medical assistance.

Flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The Friday night massacre in Crocus City Hall, a sprawling shopping and entertainment venue on the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, was the deadliest terrorist attack on the Russian soil in nearly 20 years.

At least four gunmen toting automatic rifles shot at thousands of concertgoers and set the venue on fire.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the violence, while US intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible.

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

Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Toys and flowers lie in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or the FSB, said it had arrested 11 people the day after the attack, including four suspected gunmen.

Russian officials, however, have insisted Ukraine and the West had a role, claims Kyiv vehemently denies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of trying to drum up fervor as his forces fight in Ukraine.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov also alleged that Western spy agencies could have been involved.

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, rescuers work in the burned concert hall after a terrorists attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia.
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, rescuers work in the burned concert hall after a terrorists attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

“We believe that radical Islamists prepared the action, while Western special services assisted it and Ukrainian special services had a direct part in it,” Bortnikov said, without giving details.

He repeated Putin’s claim that the four gunmen were trying to escape to Ukraine when they were arrested, casting it as proof of Kyiv’s alleged involvement.

But that assertion was undercut slightly by Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said Tuesday the suspects were headed for Ukraine because they feared tight controls on the Belarus border.

The Islamic State group, which lost much of its territory following Russia’s military action in Syria after 2015, has long targeted Russia.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian jetliner over the Sinai desert, killing all 224 people aboard, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, rescuers work in the burned concert hall after a terrorists attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia.
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, rescuers work in the burned concert hall after a terrorists attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It has recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

On Monday, Putin warned that more attacks could follow, alleging possible Western involvement.

He didn’t mention the warning about a possible imminent terrorist attack that the US shared confidentially with Moscow two weeks before the raid.

Three days before the attack, Putin denounced the US Embassy’s March 7 notice urging Americans to avoid crowds in Moscow, including concerts, calling it an attempt to frighten Russians and “blackmail” the Kremlin ahead of the presidential election.

Bortnikov said Russia was thankful for the warning but described it as very general.

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