The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack which took place this Friday in a concert hall near Moscow, as reported by the group on its Telegram channel.

“Islamic State fighters attacked a large Christian gathering in the city of Krasnogorsk, on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, killing and wounding hundreds of people and causing widespread destruction there before retreating to their bases. safely,” Amaq, the organization’s propaganda organ, reported on its Telegram channel.

A group of assailants opened fire this Friday inside the Crocus City Hall concert hall, northwest of Moscow, subsequently causing several explosions and a fire. The attackers, who entered the facilities wearing camouflage clothing and armed with machine guns, fired several bursts of shots at the civilians present there.

“Preliminarily, as a result of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall shopping center there are currently 40 dead and more than 10 injured,” the Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

According to the FSB, the attack was carried out by a group of men with automatic weapons in the city of Krasnogorsk, northwest of Moscow before a concert by the rock group Piknik.

One of the most serious in the last 20 years in the Russian capital

The attack perpetrated is one of the most serious, by number of victims, of those recorded in Moscow in the last twenty years. The worst terrorist attack suffered by the Russian capital in recent decades occurred on October 23, 2002 when a group of Chechen terrorists attacked the Dubrovka Theater and took about 700 people hostage.

During the rescue operation, on October 26 of that year, 129 hostages died (due to inhalation of a gas used by the Russian Army in the operation) and 41 terrorists (killed by special forces).