Since Friday, Islamic State jihadists have repeatedly said they were responsible.
Moscow:
President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time on Monday that “radical Islamists” were behind last week’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow but suggested Ukraine was somehow involved.
Eleven people were detained in the attack, in which disguised gunmen stormed Croux City Hall, opened fire on concertgoers and set fire to the building, killing at least 137 people.
“We know that this crime was committed by radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for hundreds of years,” Putin told a video conference.
“This may be just one link in a series of atrocities committed by those at war with our country since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv,” he said of Ukraine.
“Of course, it is necessary to answer the question, why did the terrorists try to go to Ukraine after committing the crime? Who is waiting for them there?” Putin asked.
Since Friday, Islamic State jihadists have repeatedly said they were responsible, and Islamic State-affiliated media channels have released video of the gunman inside the venue.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
