“The shots came from behind us,” said Natalya, one of the survivors of the Moscow attack, who was waiting to enter the Crocus City Hall when the gunmen started firing. “It was loud, like a firecracker blast, fireworks, but like an automatic burst. I could hear it right behind me, not far away,” she said as per news agency Reuters.

After realizing something was wrong, Natalya started running for her life and somehow escaped to the nearby metro station. “I experienced terrible emotions. It is simply a nightmare,” she added.

I pretended to be dead…

Another woman, who refused to be named is among the injured. She described the moment when the firing started and how she had to pretend to be dead to save her life. “One of them ran back and started shooting at people. I fell to the floor and pretended to be dead. I was bleeding,” she said while recounting the dreaded feeling when one of the gunmen saw her.

Revealing chilling details about the scene of the Crocus City Hall, she said that dead bodies were lying everywhere. “The girl lying next to me was killed,” she told RT, a Russian state-funded news agency.

The gunmen also used grenades and other bombs for explosions which triggered fire at the Crocus City Hall. The woman said that she faced trouble breathing during the fire but somehow managed to crawl towards the exit and escape the Moscow attack.

ISIS has claimed the responsibility for Moscow attack and as per reports, the four gunmen belonged to Tajikistan in central Asia. The Russian security agencies are also investigating if there is any Ukraine connection to the attack since Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a two-year-long war.

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Published: 24 Mar 2024, 02:56 PM IST