https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/two-suspects-moscow-attack-detained-after-c...Russia arrests suspected gunmen as concert death toll soars to 115
By Guy Faulconbridge and Alexander Marrow
March 23, 202410:33 PM GMT+11Updated 21 min ago
Summary
11 arrested, including four suspected gunmen, Kremlin says
Death toll jumps to 143,
FSB says gunmen arrested heading to Ukraine border
Ukraine has denied involvement; Islamic State claims attack
MOSCOW, March 23 (Reuters) - Russia has arrested 11 people including four suspected gunmen in connection with a shooting rampage that killed at least 143 people in a concert hall near Moscow, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years. But there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link, despite a statement from Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak that Kyiv had nothing to do with it.
The FSB security service said "all four terrorists" had been arrested while heading to the Ukrainian border, and that they had contacts in Ukraine. It said they were being transferred to Moscow.
"Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from pursuit - Ukraine," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.
A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, said that if Ukraine was involved, then Russia must deliver a "worthy, clear and concrete" reply on the battlefield.
State TV editor Margarita Simonyan published a video of one of the suspects, a young bearded man, being interrogated by the side of a road. She said the death toll had climbed to 143 but did not give the source of her information.
Russia's Investigative Committee earlier said at least 115 had died in the attack, in which camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers in the Crocus City Hall near the capital.