- Sergei Vedyashkin - Associated Press
Moscow – The final death toll from the Moscow concert hall terrorist attack could be much higher than the 140 confirmed dead, with Russian state investigations saying they have received 143 reports about people who were missing.
The investigative committee said in a statement that 84 bodies had so far been identified.
Earlier on Wednesday, Baza, a Telegram channel with ties to Russia’s security services, reported that 95 individuals not listed among the 120 names in the official registry of victims were unaccounted for after last week’s shooting at the Crocus City Hall.
"Their relatives have been unable to establish contact with them since Friday’s attack," Baza said.
It was not immediately clear whether the 84 bodies identified included those listed in the official registry.
Many of the victims are believed to have died as a result of smoke inhalation after the attackers set the building on fire, which also caused the roof to collapse.
Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, its deadliest on European soil and the deadliest by any group in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege.
The fire and the collapse of the roof made some of the victims’ bodies unrecognisable, a source in Russia’s emergency services told the 112 Telegram outlet.
“In many cases, only fragments of the bodies remain,” they added.
In the aftermath of the attack, some Russians attempted to track down missing relatives through social media.
Peristiwa serangan teroris di Gedung Teater dekat Moskow, Rusia
- Vitaly Smolnikov - Associated Press
“I beg you, please help me find any information. There are many of us, we are looking at all the lists and going to the hospitals,” Luydmila Sitkikova, who was looking for her parents, wrote on the platform VK, as reported by the guardian site.
On Tuesday, senior Russian officials close to Vladimir Putin gave the clearest indication yet that Moscow was planning to pin the blame for the attack on Ukraine and the west, despite evidence that Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an Afghan offshoot of the terrorist group, was responsible.
“We believe that the action was prepared by both the Islamist radicals themselves and was facilitated by western special services,” said Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
“The special services of Ukraine are directly related to this.
He claimed that Kyiv had helped prepare the militants at an unidentified location in the Middle East.
When asked by Russian reporters whether Ukraine and its allies, the US and Britain, were involved, Bortnikov said: “We think that’s the case.”
His words were echoed by Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the security council of Russia and a close ally of Putin, who told journalists that Ukraine was “of course” behind the attack.
Despite blaming the west, Bortnikov admitted that the US earlier this month had passed on information to Russia about a possible terrorist attack being prepared in the country.
“The information (relayed by the US) about the preparation of terrorist acts in places of mass gathering of citizens was of a general nature; we reacted to this information,” he remarked.
