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Vehicles of Russian emergency services are parked near the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024.
Mass shooting in Moscow leaves at least 60 dead
At least 40 people are dead and scores are injured following an attack at a concert hall late Friday in Krasnogorsk, a northwest suburb of Moscow, one of the capital’s biggest music venues. Emergency personnel helped more than 100 others evacuate the building.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Russian authorities have not yet commented on the claim. Videos show multiple gunmen on the scene, with fans who were awaiting a performance by the rock band Piknik heard screaming amid the gunfire. State media reported that there was an explosion just before 10 p.m. local time, and part of the roof near the stage collapsed, with more than a third of the building on fire.
As a precaution in case of twin terror attacks, large venues in other parts of the country were also evacuated, and Russia's national guard is reportedly still looking for the gunmen.
Earlier this month, the US Embassy in Russia warned its staffers about reports of extremists who were planning to target large venues, including concerts, around Moscow. The warning was scorned by President Vladimir Putin, who referred to it as “obvious blackmail” intended to “intimidate and destabilize our society.”
There has been a recent uptick in Russian attacks against Ukraine, and the White House was quick to point out Friday that there is “no indication at this time that Ukraine, or Ukrainians, were involved in the shooting.”
A boy holds a sign to protest against, what a teacher, local councilor and parents said, the kidnapping of hundreds school pupils by gunmen after the Friday prayer, in Kaduna, Nigeria March 8, 2024.
Hundreds of children kidnapped by extremists in Nigeria
Over 300 children have been abducted at gunpoint in northern Nigeria in recent days. On Thursday, gunmen kidnapped at least 287 children from a school in Kaduna state, and another 15 pupils were taken on Saturday. Militants are suspected of kidnapping around 200 women and children from Borno state as well. No group has claimed responsibility, but the region is plagued by Islamic extremism.
Nigeria’s army is mounting an operation to locate and retrieve the victims, but locals fear their loved ones may never return. A decade after Boko Haram attacked and kidnapped 276 schoolgirls sitting their physics exams in Chibok, 100 remain missing, and over 1,400 children have been abducted since then.
Why schoolchildren? Boko Haram, the most menacing terrorist group in the region, targets Western-style schools, which they see as contrary to their radical Islamist beliefs, and often holds survivors for years, ending their education. Female survivors recount being repeatedly raped by militants they were forced to marry, and many fell pregnant. Copycat terrorists now also target schools to extract ransoms from families.
What we’re watching: President Bola Tinubu has sworn to rescue the children, and Nigeria’s army is the best in the region — but the local governor said there weren’t enough boots on the ground. Similar violence from Islamist extremists has driven coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which Nigeria and the regional bloc ECOWAS have struggled to contain.