Several gunmen in combat fatigues burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people, Russian media said.
Russian news reports between two to five assailants were involved in the attack and also used explosives, causing a massive blaze at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow.
Fire has engulfed a third of the concert venue building, with people still trapped inside, and the roof of the building is almost completely engulfed in flames, state news agency TASS reported.
Video posted on social media showed huge plumes of black smoke rising over the building.
Extended rounds of gunfire could be heard on multiple videos posted by Russian media and Telegram channels.
One showed two men with rifles moving through the building.
Another one showed a man inside the auditorium, saying the assailants set it on fire, with incessant gunshots ringing out in the background.
Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said he was heading to the area and set up a task force to deal with the damage.
He didn't immediately offer any further details.
Russian media reports said that riot police units were being sent to the area as people were being evacuated.
Special units of Russia's National Guard have arrived on the scene of a shooting at a concert venue near Moscow on Friday, TASS said.
More than 50 ambulance crews have been sent to the scene, the RIA news agency reported.
The attack followed a statement issued earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that urged the Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital in view of an imminent attack, a warning that was repeated by several other Western embassies.
It is not yet clear who might be behind the attack.
More to come.
