Russia arrests concert hall gunmen as death toll rises to 133

Russia on Saturday said it had arrested 11 people — including four gunmen — over the attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed by ISIL, as the death toll rose to 133.

Camouflaged assailants opened fire at the packed Crocus City Hall in Moscow's northern suburb of Krasnogorsk on Friday evening ahead of a concert by Soviet-era rock band Piknik in the deadliest attack in Russia for at least a decade.

Russia's FSB security service said some of the perpetrators had fled towards the Russia-Ukraine border, adding that the assailants had "appropriate contacts" in the country, according to a statement cited by state-run news agencies.

It did not provide further details.

The Kremlin said the head of the FSB security service had informed President Vladimir Putin about the arrests, while authorities warned the number of fatalities was set to keep rising, with more than 100 still hospitalised.

"FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov reported to the president on the detention of 11 people, including four terrorists involved in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall," it said.

Putin himself has not made any public remarks or been seen in public in the more than 12 hours since the attack.

The Kremlin said he was being kept constantly informed and a government official said he had wished a speedy recovery to the victims.

133 killed 

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said on Saturday that the death toll at the Crocus City concert hall in Moscow region rose to 133 as more bodies were pulled from under the debris.

It said people died both from gunshot wounds and from smoke inhalation after a fire engulfed the 6,000-seater venue.

"The terrorists used a flammable liquid to...