Bullet after bullet tore through hundreds of unsuspecting music fans in Moscow on Friday night, all of whom had traveled to the western outskirts of Russia’s capital to sing their hearts out.
In the ISIS attack, carried out by one of the terrorist group’s most violent sects, four armed and dangerous men massacred innocent civilians who were sitting down to watch Russian rock band Picnic perform at Crocus City Hall on March 22.
But the concert did not even begin when four terrorists belonging to an ultraviolent sect of the terrorist group began shooting at innocent civilians.
Details of what exactly happened on Friday night are slowly emerging, and Russian investigators are slowly piecing together the attack.
Here, MailOnline looks at exactly what happened that terrible night.
A clip shows a terrorist running through the concert hall’s security doors.
Rescuers clear debris and extinguish fires in the lobby of Crocus City Hall
The men were seen arriving in an unmarked white van shortly before the attack.
Witnesses to the attack, whose words were supported by video footage shared on social media, told media that the group of four men began firing automatic Kalashnikovs as they entered the lobby of the venue.
They arrived at the location just before 8 pm on Friday, walked through the lobby and shot people waiting in the lobby.
The four terrorists worked for ISIS-K, a branch of ISIS known for its barbarity that was created in late 2014 in eastern Afghanistan in the wake of US-led airstrikes against ISIS strongholds across Iraq.
The group is led by Shahab al-Muhajir, an engineer by training and education, since 2020.
His name means ‘Shahab the Migrant’, in reference to the fact that he is the first non-Afghan, non-Pakistani person to lead ISIS-K.
More and more gunshots rang out in the lobby as the terrorists continued to slaughter innocent people as they walked through the lobby.
The fire consumed a large part of the building
The Crocus Town Hall is located in the Krasnogorsk urban settlement of the city in the Krasnogorsky district.
In images shared on social media, bodies were seen falling one after another as the terrorists made their way to the concert hall area.
Inside, concertgoers began to panic and head for the exits. But they were forced to duck for cover when ISIS gunmen began shooting wildly into the gathered crowd.
Then, a terrorist started a fire that would consume much of the building. Witnesses said they saw at least some of them dipping the seats in a liquid before turning them on.
Russian news reports cited authorities and witnesses as saying the attackers threw explosive devices that started the fire, which eventually consumed the building and caused the roof to collapse.
Dave Primov, who survived the attack, told the AP that the gunmen were “shooting directly into the crowd in the front rows.”
He described the chaos in the hall as concertgoers rushed to leave the building: ‘People started to panic, started running and bumped into each other. Some fell and others trampled on them.’
The large venue was engulfed in flames after at least five armed men dressed in camouflage burst into the room.
In the image: Hundreds of people get up from their seats and head for the exits as gunshots are heard in the concert hall.
After he and others left the hallway toward nearby utility rooms, he said he heard pops of small explosives and smelled burning as the attackers set the building on fire.
When they left the huge building, 25 minutes later, it was already engulfed in flames.
“If a little more time had passed, we would simply be stuck in the fire,” Primov said.
Another person who was at the scene hours after the attack saw black smoke and flames coming from the roof of the 6,000-seat concert hall. Helicopters attempted to extinguish the flames that engulfed the large building.
Eventually, emergency services were able to get in and treat the injured and authorities were able to begin their investigation into exactly what happened.
Investigators said some died from gunshot wounds and others in a large fire that broke out at the complex. Reports say the gunmen lit the fire using gasoline from canisters they carried in their backpacks.
The hall, still on fire, has capacity for 6,000 spectators
Seventy ambulances have responded to the scene of the building engulfed in flames
Gunmen attack concert hall in Moscow mass shooting
People fled in panic. Baza, a media outlet with good contacts in Russian security and law enforcement, said 28 bodies were found in a bathroom and 14 in a staircase. “Many mothers were found hugging their children,” she said.
On Saturday, investigators were sifting through the charred remains of the room for more victims, and authorities said the death toll could still rise.
U.S. intelligence officials strongly believe that members of the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, carried out the attack. Tonight, the United States officially refuted Vladimir Putin’s claims that the attacks were carried out on the orders of Ukraine.
‘ISIS is solely responsible for this attack. “There was no Ukrainian involvement at all,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
ISIS-K, created in late 2014 in eastern Afghanistan following US-led airstrikes on ISIS strongholds across Iraq, is known for its extreme brutality.