French authorities have raised their security alert level to the maximum following the deadly Friday attack in a Moscow concert hall, according to Bloomberg.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the increased countrywide awareness level was justified given “Islamic State’s claim it was responsible for the attack and the threats weighing on our country.”
He made the announcement in a tweet on Sunday evening following a defense and security council organized by President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.
Russia on Monday cast doubt on assertions by the United States that the Islamic State militant group was responsible for a gun attack on a concert hall outside Moscow which killed 137 people and injured 182 more,
according to Reuters.
In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying people with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group Picnic was to perform its hit “Afraid of Nothing.”
Four men, at least one a Tajik, were remanded in custody for terrorism. They appeared separately, led into a cage at Moscow’s Basmanny district court by Federal Security Service officers.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim which the United States has publicly said it believed, and the militant group has since released what it says is footage from the attack. US officials said they warned Russia of intelligence about an imminent attack earlier this month.
But President Vladimir Putin has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine.
Putin said some people on “the Ukrainian side” had been prepared to spirit the gunmen across the border. Ukraine has denied any role in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the concert hall attack by referring to Ukraine.
Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four suspected gunmen, who fled the concert hall and made their way to the Bryansk region, about 340km southwest of Moscow, to slip across the border to Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, called into question US assertions that Islamic State, which once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, was behind the attack.
The US has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, two US officials said on Friday.
Western nations, including the United States whose ties with Moscow have been fraught since its invasion of Ukraine, condemned the attack and expressed sympathy for the Russian people affected. Arab powers and many former Soviet republics also expressed shock and sent their condolences,
Euractiv reports.
France has faced numerous terrorist threats from the Islamic State in the past, notably the 2015 Bataclan theater massacre where militants unleashed gunfire on concert attendees and held hostages. Additionally, French military engagements against Islamist extremists in the Middle East and Africa have heightened security concerns
The decision to elevate the security alert level comes at a crucial time as France prepares to host the Paris Olympics and Paralympics later this year, anticipating millions of visitors. Of particular concern is the opening ceremony scheduled for July 26, featuring a parade of boats on the Seine River and large crowds along the riverbanks, according to Novinite.
The US and its European allies have supported Ukraine, extending billions of dollars of money, weapons and intelligence in a bid to defeat Russian forces.
