Hommam Al Nassim 
Russian authorities announced that the death toll from the terrorist attack on the Crocs City Hall shopping center on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday evening rose to 133 dead and dozens injured.
The director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, informed President Vladimir Putin of the arrest of 11 people, including 4 terrorists, who took part in the attack on the Crocos shopping mall.
For its part, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement at dawn on Saturday that the number of victims of the terrorist attack reached more than 60 dead, including 3 children, noting that the toll is likely to rise as a result of the presence of critical injuries.
The Russian Ministry of Emergencies published about four o’clock in the morning on Saturday a checked list of the names of those injured as a result of the terrorist act includes 99 names, stressing that all the injured were evacuated from the scene to 12 hospitals.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said 115 people, including 5 children, were taken to hospitals, adding that 60 adults and one child were in serious condition.
According to eyewitnesses, a number of men dressed in camouflage and without masks stormed the centre shortly before the start of a musical performance, shot at the audience in the lobby of the building and in the concert hall itself at close range and threw petrol bombs.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, posted on his Telegram channel a video depicting the current situation inside the “Crocs City Hall” center on the outskirts of Moscow, and as the Russian Investigative Committee showcased the weapons used by terrorists during the attack.
On Ukraine’s connection to the attack, former Russian president and deputy head of the National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said his country would “eliminate” Ukrainian leaders if they were found responsible for the deadly attack on a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday.
Ukraine, for its part, was quick to deny any connection to the attack, and adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mikhail Podolyak, said in a statement via Telegram that Ukraine had “nothing to do” with the attack.
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby denied there were any “indications of Ukraine’s involvement” in the attack, saying in remarks Friday that it was too early to make any assessment, but that “there is currently no indication that Ukraine or the Ukrainians were involved in this attack, as the news is still very new.”
Separately, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the United States and Britain had prior knowledge of the armed attack on the Moscow concert hall.
“This is something we’ve said many times, but very few people want to hear it, very few people want to believe it, very few people think about looking at the facts,” he said during a local television program on Friday.
“The US embassy in Moscow called on its citizens on March 7 not to go to shopping malls, and the British and others did the same,” he said.
In the same context, dozens of countries announced their condemnation of the terrorist attack on the commercial center on the outskirts of Moscow, which killed dozens of civilians.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that Moscow would invite the UN Security Council to hold a meeting on the attack, so that the global majority in the largest international organization can condemn the acts.
Russia discusses canceling visas with nine new countries including four Arab countries