France has raised its alert level to the highest after a deadly terrorist attack at a Russian concert hall killed at least 137 people, LBC reports.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced the decision in a post on website X, saying the authorities were “taking into account the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the terrorist attack in Moscow and the threats hanging over our country.” He said, referring to France’s security alert system:
We have decided to raise the Vigipirate state to its highest level: attack emergency.
The announcement was made after President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting. A branch of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
France has been the victim of deadly Islamic State attacks on multiple occasions, including the 2015 Bataclan theatre massacre, when extremists opened fire on concertgoers and held hostages for hours. French troops have also battled Islamic extremists in the Middle East and Africa.
France is already on high alert ahead of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are expected to attract millions of visitors to the country.
Security is high for the opening ceremony on 26 July, during which boats will ply the Seine and huge crowds will watch from the quays.
Four men have appeared in a Russian court on assault charges. Three of them have pleaded guilty. All four men have been charged with committing a terrorist attack for which the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility at Crocus City Hall.
The men have been named as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov.
On Saturday, Russian authorities arrested four suspects suspected of involvement in the attack, officials said, and Vladimir Putin said in his overnight address to the nation that 11 people were suspected of involvement.
He also blamed Ukraine for the attack, despite Islamic State claiming responsibility. Putin said the attackers had been helped across the border by “the Ukrainian side”.
A US National Security Council spokesperson said:
ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.
But Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response:
If only they could sort out the assassination of their own President Kennedy so quickly. But no, for more than 60 years, they have not been able to find out who killed him. Or maybe ISIS too? Or will they delay for another 60 years with specifics, playing with any constructive uncertainty?
Following the claims, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful for those who call “a spade a spade”. He thanked those who refuse to “let Russia deceive the world through propaganda and blackmail”. The president said Ukraine must win the war because it is the only way to “reliably protect human lives”.
The attack was the deadliest on Russian territory in recent years. Rescuers continue to survey the damaged building, and some families still do not know if family members who attended the event attacked by gunmen on Friday are alive.
In an attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday night, gunmen opened fire and set fire to the building, killing at least 137 people.
Video posted on social media showed the building on fire, with a huge cloud of smoke rising into the night sky. The street was lit up by the flashing blue lights of dozens of fire engines, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, while firefighting helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, which took several hours to extinguish.
Videos published in Russian media and on messaging channels show men with assault rifles in their hands shooting screaming people at point-blank range. In one video, a man in the auditorium says the attackers set him on fire, while gunshots continuously sound. Security guards at the concert hall were unarmed and some of them may have been killed at the start of the attack, Russian media reported.
