Will identify and punish terrorists, vows Putin as Russians mourn

Russia lowered flags to half-mast on Sunday for a day of mourning after scores of people were gunned down with automatic weapons at a rock concert outside Moscow in the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades.

President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning after pledging to track down and punish all those behind the attack, which left 137 people dead, including three children, and more than 150 were injured. Russia said it had arrested all four gunmen suspected of carrying out a shooting massacre in a concert hall near Moscow, and President Vladimir Putin pledged to track down and punish those behind the attack.

Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said doctors were “fighting for the lives of 107 people.” State TV editor Margarita Simonyan, without citing a source, had earlier given a toll of 143.

In a televised address, Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four gunmen. Ukraine has repeatedly denied any role in the attack, which Putin also blamed on “international terrorism” and said he was ready to work with any state that wanted to defeat it. “All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished.”

“Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them,” Putin said. “We will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this strike against Russia, against our people.”

MiG fighter jet intercepts two US bombers The Russian defence ministry on Sunday said it had scrambled a MiG-31 fighter jet after the approach of two US B-1B bombers towards the Russian border over the Barents Sea.

The US bombers turned away from the Russian border after the approach of the MiG-31.