Crocus Concert Hall attack: How many died? What do we know? Who are the attackers?

More than 140 people died in the ISIS claimed terror attack, which took place days after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term.

We have compiled what is known about the attack claimed by ISIS.

How did it Happen?

Located outside Moscow, Crocus Town Hall is 20 kilometers from the Kremlin.

A concert by a rock band called Picnic was going to start here on Friday evening at 20:00 local time.

The attackers entered the foyer of the building minutes before the start of this concert.

There were four security guards in the building. One of them said "he saw other security guards hiding behind a billboard" as the attack began.

In the videos of the moment of the incident, it is seen that four people wearing camouflage clothes opened fire on people they encountered in this area and moved towards the concert hall inside the building.

An eyewitness who spoke to a Russian television station and was in the concert hall at the time of the incident said "that they ran towards the stage with the crowd after it became clear that shots had been fired"

“I heard gunshots and saw a person with a gun in his hand. I tried to hide behind a speaker.”

At one point, the videos also show flames starting in the concert hall.

These flames surrounded the entire concert hall in the following minutes and caused the glass ceiling of the concert hall, located on the top two floors of this seven-storey building, to collapse.

Russian officials investigating the incident said, "Terrorists poured a flammable liquid into this area and set it on fire."

There were many injured people in the concert hall at that time.

According to some eyewitnesses, the attack lasted around 20 minutes.

After the fire helicopters poured 160 tons of water, the fire was extinguished at the end of the 10th hour in the morning.

By that time, the attackers had fled the scene and hundreds of people had lost their lives or been injured.

Some died from bullet wounds and some from smoke inhalation.

Members of the Picnic group survived the attack without injury.

How Many Lost?

More than 6 thousand people went to the Crocus Concert Hall for the concert.

The death toll has been rising since Friday evening.

Authorities find new bodies while removing the debris created by the collapse of the burning building.

As of Saturday afternoon, the death toll was announced as 133.

It was announced that the oldest person among the dead was in his 70s and the youngest were three children whose ages were not disclosed.

It was announced that at least 60 people were seriously injured and the death toll may increase.

The majority of those attacked were from Krasnogorsk and Khimki, cities on the northwestern tip of Moscow.

Who are the Attackers?

The attackers had managed to escape in the chaos they created.

Thereupon, a comprehensive search operation was launched.

Deputy Aleksandr Khinshtein said that the attackers escaped in a white Renault, and that the police found the vehicle 340 km from Moscow.

He said that "he tried to stop it after spotting it from a distance, and that while he detained two people, the other people in the vehicle ran away."

14 hours after the attack, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that 11 people, including the four people who carried out the attack, were captured.

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the attackers are not Russian citizens, but are mostly from Tajikistan.

Deputy Khinstein said that there were Tajikistan passports in the vehicle.

According to the BBC Monitoring Service, the Tajikistan police announced that the two citizens mentioned in the news returned from Russia in November and that these people are currently in Tajikistan. Tajikistan police shared photos of the two people with their passports.

Who is behind the attack?

In a brief statement on Friday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Saturday, ISIS' so called news agency "Al - Amaq"  shared a photo showing four masked men, claiming that they are the Crocus Hall attackers.

Two weeks ago, the United States issued a warning that large events in Moscow could be targeted.

Russian officials stated that "there was not much detail in the intelligence information shared by the USA."

Vladimir Putin, in a speech last week, adressed the attack while criticizing Western governments:

“The recent provocative statements made by Western institutions that a terrorist attack could be carried out in Russia are in the nature of blackmail. Its aim is to intimidate and destabilize our society,"

The US said that ISIS-K, the Khorasan branch of ISIS, was behind the attack.

The ISIS branch wants to establish a caliphate in the region formerly called Khorasan.

“The organization criticizes the Kremlin for its interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria, and says that it massacres Muslims.”

Putin said that the attackers were caught while trying to escape to Ukraine. "According to preliminary findings, a passage was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side," Putin said in his public speech this Saturday.

Ukraine rejected the Russian claim, calling it "extremely absurd."