At least 40 people killed in terrorist attack on Moscow concert hall

MOSCOW, March 23 (YPA) -At least 40 were killed and more than 100 injured people among visitors and employees of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow after an explosion and gunfire opened by unidentified assailants.

Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that 40 dead and more than 100 were injured, the initial toll of the terrorist attack that targeted the mall.

Aircraft were sent to the Crocus City Hall building to extinguish the fire, TASS cited the Main Department of the Emergencies Ministry for the Moscow Region as saying.

Russian security forces announced the establishment of an operational headquarters at the site of the attack and directed special forces to deal with the security situation in the complex.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the international community to condemn this “monstrous crime”.

“It has been preliminarily established that there are dead and wounded people as a result of a blast and automatic gunfire at the Crocus City Hall,” TASS quoted an eyewitness as saying.

According to the man, unidentified gunmen armed with assault rifles went on a shooting spree in the lobby and then inside the concert hall just before a concert by the rock band Picnic.

E.M