Concert Hall massacre suspects appear in court as death toll rises – latest

Moscow’s Basmanny district court ruled on Sunday that the first suspect in Friday’s deadly concert hall attack in which at 137 people were killed should be put into custody for two months pending trial, Interfax news agency reported citing the court.

Russian authorities have said 11 people have been detained, including four gunmen who fled the concert hall and made their way to the Bryansk region, about 340 km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow.

Strong indications that Islamist extremists were planning to carry out an attack – “a spectacular” one in terms of its lethal ambition – had been around for a while. And there was a certain grim inevitability to the massacre of more than 140 people that took place yesterday in Moscow.

Despite relations between Nato and Russia reaching the lowest point since the coldest of times during the Cold War, channels of communication on matters of terrorism have remained active between the Kremlin and a number of Western states.

It is believed that the US, and then the UK, were receiving information at the start of the year that Isis was planning an attack in Russia in the near future, and warnings were passed on to Moscow by the Americans.

World affairs editor Kim Sengupta reports:

Russia will target those behind a deadly shooting at a concert hall near Moscow wherever they are from and whoever they are, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Sunday.

Medvedev, who on Friday said that those who masterminded the attack should be hunted down and killed, made his latest statement on his official account on the Telegram messenger service.

“We will avenge each and every one (of those killed and wounded). And those who are involved, regardless of their country of origin and status, are now our main and legitimate target,” he said.

Russia lowered flags to half-mast on Sunday for a day of mourning for the scores of people gunned down with automatic weapons in the attack outside Moscow on Friday.

The Islamic State still poses a threat in Iraq and the US-led military coalition’s work with Iraq to fully defeat the group is not done, United States Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski told Reuters in an interview.

Senior Iraqi politicians, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, have repeatedly said that the group no longer posed a threat in Iraq and the coalition was not needed, even as its affiliates continued to carry out attacks elsewhere.

“We both assess ISIS (Islamic State) is still a threat here, much, much diminished, but nevertheless our work is essentially not done and we want to ensure that Iraqi forces can continue the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Romanowski said at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

She was speaking after Islamic State’s Afghan branch, ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack at a rock concert near Moscow, in which 137 people were killed.

“As this event reminds us, ISIS is a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere,” she said in an additional comment after the interview.

“That’s why the United States and Iraq share a commitment to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, including by working together to shape the future of a strong bilateral US-Iraq security partnership.”

The US Vice President has strongly rejected the Kremlin’s claims Ukraine was involved in the massacre near Moscow on Friday as she insisted it is Isis who is responsible for the attack.

Addressing the assault at the Russian concert hall, Kamala Harris told ABC: “No, there is no, whatsoever, any evidence [of Ukraine involvement].”

In the interview with Rachel Scott on Sunday, she said: “In fact, what we know to be the case is that ISIS-K is actually by all accounts responsible for what happened.”

Suspects in the Crocus City Hall shooting were brought to the Investigation Committee’s headquarters in Moscow, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Sunday.

Russian authorities put the number of dead in Friday’s mass shooting at a concert hall on the edge of Moscow at 137 people, including three children, up from earlier estimate of 133, the Investigation Committee said.

The death toll in Friday’s massacre has risen to 137, Russia’s state Investigative Committee has announced.

Russian authorities put the number of dead in the mass shooting at a concert hall on the edge of Moscow at 137 people, including three children, up from an earlier estimate of 133.

The Investigative Committee also said 62 bodies have been identified.

Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the rampage, but there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link despite emphatic denials from Ukrainian officials that Kyiv had anything to do with it.