Moscow, 22 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - At least 40 people are dead and more than 100 people injured in what Russian authorities are calling a suspected terrorist attack on an event hall in the Moscow region, according to Russia's FSB domestic intelligence agency.

Unidentified men wearing camouflage clothing stormed the Crocus City Hall on Friday shortly before the start of a concert in the city of Krasnogorsk, north-west of Moscow, and opened fire, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said.

Russian media had previously reported gunshots and the sound of explosions in the Crocus City Hall and dozens of dead and injured. The victims are said to be both employees and visitors to the concert hall.

There are thousands of seats in the auditorium. Blazing flames and a huge cloud of smoke could be seen at the building.

Details surrounding the incident remain unclear, including the identity of the possible attackers or a motive. Detailed figures were not initially disclosed on Friday evening.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been kept informed of the suspected terror attack "from the very first minute," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russia's Central Investigative Committee has opened proceedings for a suspected act of terrorism, the agency announced on Friday evening in a post to Telegram.

Footage of the building, a third of which was said to be in flames and the roof of which is in danger of collapsing, has been circulating on social networks. Rescue workers were on site.

According to the authorities, dozens of ambulances were deployed and many buses were used to bring people to safety.

Western embassies had recently warned of potential terrorist attacks in Moscow. The Kremlin had described this as a provocation by the West.

Valentina Matviyenko, the head of Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, threatened those responsible for planning the attack with retribution.

"Those behind this terrible crime will receive the deserved and inevitable punishment," she wrote on her Telegram channel on Friday evening.

Moscow's mayor ordered all large events to be cancelled following the incident, which he described as a suspected terror attack.

The mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, wrote on his Telegram channel that all sporting, cultural and other events have been canceled for the weekend.

John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said in Washington on Friday that his thoughts were with the victims of the attack and their families.

Photo: X screenshot