Several camouflaged gunmen armed with automatic weapons shot up and set fire to a crowded concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow Friday, killing at least 40 people and wounding over 100 more, authorities and reports said, as Russian officials described the large-scale assault as an apparent act of terrorism.
The attack at Crocus City Hall, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, is the deadliest on Russian soil in recent years, the Associated Press reported.
Forty people died and more than 100 were injured, as some 50 ambulance crews descended on the scene, according to the AP and Reuters, which cited Russian news agencies.'
The attackers "threw a grenade or an incendiary bomb, which started a fire," Russian outlet RIA Novosti reported, according to CNN.
Multiple outlets reported that the venue's roof was on the verge of collapse, and video footage obtained by Reuters showed flames lighting up the sky and puffs of black smoke consuming the venue from above.
"A terrible tragedy occurred in the shopping center Crocus City today," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. "I am sorry for the loved ones of the victims."
Sobyanin said all necessary assistance would be provided to those injured during the attack.
Several individuals were reportedly still in the venue when emergency vehicles arrived.
In a graphic, unverified video posted on social media, several men with automatic weapons are seen firing continuously at screaming civilians, including women, who were hiding under an entrance sign to the venue.
Another video showed chaos among attendees already seated inside the venue.
Russian investigators are probing the attack as terrorism.
The identities - and fate - of the attackers were not immediately clear.
Earlier this month, the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that extremists had impending plans for an attack in Moscow, though it was not immediately clear whether Friday's attack was related to those plans.
That alert was issued some hours after Russia's Federal Security Service claimed it had prevented an attack on a synagogue in Moscow orchestrated by a cell of the militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State.
