one person has been killed in a shooting incident at the federal security service building in central moscow. a federal security service is reportedly investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. police say that the attacker acted alone and according to reports the suspect was neutralized after what witnesses have described as a long series of shots the shooter's identity has still not been confirmed. 5 or 10 minutes past 6 the gunfire began and it was not just a few shots that came in bursts we saw officers taking cover behind the cars.

leaving them welcome to our teens and ashleigh will start this hour with breaking news from central moscow numerous shots have been fired in the immediate vicinity of the federal security service building this shooter has reportedly been neutralized his identity is yet to be confirmed and the moment of the attack was caught on camera. i. want to coast from a riff an ocean or is believe across the road from the others me of course this where the shooting took place what's the situation like at the moment with. the yes i'm in central moscow right now behind me is the main building of russia's federal security service that massive yellow brick building known as lubyanka that

used to be by the way the headquarters of the soviet k.g.b. as well an old significant and very symbolic building just to give you an understanding of how central we are just a 15 minute walk down that road will take you directly to the red square and the kremlin so we are literally in the very heart of russia's capital and this is where the shooting happened earlier on thursday around 6 pm details are still not clear but war tasby no really confirmed one after as we all firsts are at least has been killed 2 others * are right now in critical condition and they're being treated at one of most hospitals right now and we hear from russia the sorority's that it was just one person behind the attack and he was killed in the operation not 3 people like we heard from initial reports and also there was an information that russian

authorities classified * what happened as terror attack but right now there is no confirmation all of these are a report so downtown most thursday evening before a city's very crowded there were many people here at the time when the fir is gonna show its were heard and later many of them sure they motions and feelings on social media and many of them disc. dr the 1st 2nd was as a moment of confusion because people couldn't understand exactly what that sound was and many 2 kids who are fireworks and there were a lot of thing and joking until police officers told them to hide and this is when the panic started let's take a listen to what eyewitnesses have to say about what happened here. and then when the shooting started i was in the office a building in the starbucks cafe i was just sitting there working at my laptop that

misfit was calm christmas music playing in the background and i heard the sound of gunfire it was the last thing i expected for the 10 minutes past 6 the gunfire begin to it was not just a few shots that came in bursts we saw off a stake in cover behind the cars so i spent an hour inside that cafe the lights in there one time out and then the rule led out of the through the back door which. as you can see behind me there were many police cars and mini buses they try to con them the right least 50 of them they cordoned off the area around. a building 2 streets around that building right now cordoned off but all in all there is no panic here right now on the run so different now 3 hours after the shooting happened here and just a little bit more about the place where we are right here the reason big big

building also one of moscow's a biggest in all just keen stores also it was very crowded at 6 pm you can imagine running tourists and people coming from work and has been immediately closed off to the for his gun shows for security purposes of course back to you. but i think for international central moscow for is that kids conversation is student on your whole concern. with me just the course. said this before the picture changes becomes a little clearer as time passes by a little bit more information coming with regards to the number of people involved in the attack the number of people who've been killed or injured and also how the authorities are dealing with it that's right the early reports indicated a incident of a slightly different scale has to be said early reports coming in of 3 attackers of some of the potentially wearing military or police uniforms of multiple automatic

weapons that has clarified now as time has gone on those of the early reports about 2 hours ago they have confirmed the f.s.b. the federal security service of russia but only one attacker was involved and reports saying he has been neutralized in terms of casualties as well we weren't sure at the time how many of them were fatalities how many were critically injured we know now from their confirmation that at least one security officer was killed another one in hospital in critical condition and the ministry of health saying a total of 5 casualties have been treated at the scene although we can't if those security and police officers were among those 5 so certainly the investigation part now that this is no longer an active shooter alive seen situations will begin investigating obviously piecing together the timing of this attack the target the identity of the attacker to try and really get behind or see what was behind this attack as motive what was going through their head and indeed if there were any other any others involved in the planning organization of this attack that in

central moscow. russia as being a victim multiple times of terrorism its in its fair share of atrocities even over the last decade multiple major incidents multiple fatalities the death toll much more this day but it's just another reminder nobody's mean to it no country is safe from terrorism indeed we have seen. terror attacks in pretty much every developed capital some of them we've covered of course together in the studio the attacks and nice paris particularly on the bridge to attacks in fact. each using slightly different tactics slightly different weapons but of course the aim of all these attacks if course this is officially confirmed by security forces terrorism aim of course is to spread panic to spread fear and cause as many casualties as possible it is worth saying in this case that this attacker had an automatic weapon how do you chosen a different target christmas market

a crowded. bus stop. shopping center we would be talking slightly different casualty numbers we would have been talking a different incident altogether so perhaps that's something to take away from this attack whatever the motive of this was whatever was going through his head he knew that he would get a swift response he knew that it was unlikely he would leave the scene alive that's something the investigators will be taking into account certainly when they are investigating what lay behind today's events ok let's get some expert analysis now can speak to david low who is a terrorism expert and also a senior research fellow at leeds university good evening to you david. the incident we're talking about and an assault on the national security service headquarters the f.s.b. building is it fair to say that you know this was always going to be a suicide mission you would know the response you're going to going to get and it

was going to be heavy which begs the question why would someone target such a facility. well you quite right i think anyone who would want to touch the f.s.b. building or similar buildings when we've just been talking the before globally there are similar buildings around around the world in the capitals you know this is what we call hard targets and that's what he's picked i think what may be one of the reasons i'm not you know i'm speculating here but let's see what comes out but what it does is there's the f.s.b. this is the russian security services has a rich history you know easier reports who's saying you know you know before that was the k.g.b. in the days of soviet union so it's an iconic. location it's iconic organization and it's saying basically well if the f.s.b. don't save yourself you know slaven country with your discretion and frankly they didn't go to work at christmas markets or our young men i can imagine red square would be very busy today were tourists and so are thankfully the didn't go there

but i think that could be one of the reasons he picked the f.s.b. because of the message it gives and they don't all hear a correspondent in a studio mention some of the previous attacks that have taken place around france the u.k. moscow as well we are seeing an increase in frequency in such attacks around the world some of them may be copycat attacks or blowback blowback as another expert mentioned there why do you think these are becoming more common and why again why choose this target. yeah i think we have to look at the nature i mean. you know quite rightly the russian authorities are treating is a terrorist attack and this is a compatibility of little really between states if you start with a terrorist it's not wrong there's nobody why the powers it's you you scale it right from the very top and joining investigation and i see easier to do that if it works out in the end it's not. that you can scale down it's hard to do the other way so i understand why they're treating it as a as a potential terrorist attack why are we seeing this well let's have

a look what's what's going on here be interesting to see what the causes with this individual they can find out what's inspired this individual's carry on the talk of course but i sure as let me state they've lost their territory but the they are still active in some inspiring people that their media output is still ongoing they haven't gone away so it could be that this inspiring and don't forget was the only real she was the only state that day ash actually declared war on 2014 or go no there's no need for it so you know she's never been immune from it such and die ash and they're being issues around the caucuses were the use of the x. direction that these extreme islamists try to inspire muslims in in states around chechnya dagestan so on to the cause and not cause friction so would be interested see what comes out from that moses said why why pick the f.s.b. well it's such a it's a hard target and so now reinforce the message if he is

a terrorist he's gone so look not even the f.s.b. is safe terrorism certainly nothing new. one would think now with the technology that the security services have that there's never been greater scrutiny of the communications that we have between each other as members of the public and that you know the greater security protocols are in place to try and prevent terrorist attacks yet they continue to happen is them. sees that we get that there's no stopping them. no it's very difficult i think if you talk to any head of any counterterrorism police or any head of security state security they will tell you it's virtually impossible to stop everyone especially you have an individual if they have not been on the system or that not been assessed as a great risk of the being on the system were acting on their own initiative it's very hard but what we are seeing what we are seeing is making it very very difficult for organized cells to operate i mean for example here. was the

manchester bombing but he did not work on his own he had other individuals and it is getting harder and harder for them to operate so no not just in the u.k. and though in other states around europe a number of plots are actually been prevented gigi to work in security service and counterterrorism police because they've got to communicate with each other beyond individual who is inspired by what they see online my messages on that are acting alone and they're very very difficult to turn to for those it's not. just in terms of policy here obviously in coincidence or not this time it was that i bet in the coming marking the national security forces they that's going to take place tomorrow in moscow giving a speech what sort of measures do you think can we expect to be brought in after an attack such as this. well i think the mostly big and we see again globally there might be a higher police presence in certain areas that been identified as

a potential risk of merriment from one square before you know you got the same bottles cathedral the kremlin and so old they're very popular and you know if you look at various locations around moscow well maybe around russia i mean you go to st petersburg. there's plenty of iconic targets in st petersburg and again this will be busy as we're approaching christmas and libby told us that you know going to enjoy themselves and obviously naturally this is really city enjoying themselves so it may be looking that props increase. the physical presence well also perhaps being analyzing again what intelligence state is there and see if they can make any links and what may come out is looking this individual that once they identify as individual look at his promises look at what he's been looking at online there may be some links there and we just don't know that's the thing with the investigation you got to be open minded about this and look at everything objectively we heard

him say here's a few months ago donald trump was saying that islamic state had been defeated yet the terrorist attacks continue they claim responsibility including the recent one in london we don't yet know if this will be confirmed terrorism is responsible but . given that the enemy supposedly the politicians say has been defeated does that mean they've not been defeated rating that they've just moved to a place where they're not so visible. yeah i think that was a to me that was a big mistake to say. islamic state were defeated ok they they they they've lost their self for 10 caliph ike they've lost control of key towns and cities that they that they have their price by when times 20152060 but have not been defeated i said early on that they're still that they still got a high media presence there and they're in obviously if i had to go to more deserted areas around syria. to to operate but they're also operating you know that they're trying to operate in yemen that where there's a power vacuum they are either how their own individuals or in spite of the groups

are to follow their cause so you can never say they've been defeatist like say here in the u.k. you know we've got the northern island we have the jewels for 30 years the provisional ira and sinn fein loyalists are the negotiating table and then we have the only bombing as the good friday agreement is signed and the real ira as it was then was for i could give other examples around the world but there is always a group that's always. disaffected by any. progress that with the cause they are fighting for they still think it's present so you can never say they're totally defeated well one thing about islamist inspired terrorism is a strong ideology towards a strong ideological link and that hasn't gone away so. i mean for example in the u.k. we we dropped our threat level from severe to substantial a lot and i was it went from highly likely to likely unlikely as we saw with the london bridge attack on the 29th of november it happens and that individual. you

know he he was released from prison but he had those connections and quite clearly he was still in be with ideology so we can't totally relax. david greatly appreciate your expertise and analysis stay below is my guest is terrorism expert and senior research fellow at leeds university thank you you're welcome. and hawkins is in the studio with me and we've been compiling information as it's been coming in trying to get the best picture we can the most accurate picture what cannot be denied though is when you get immediate video footage from the scene and it gives you even only a small sense of the sheer terror and panic that the people who were in that close vicinity experienced not knowing if they were going to live or die and what was going on around the saloon as our correspondents got to the scene and maria on the front side of that building we saw very empty very quiet deserted streets around

them aside from the police and the cordons and the several media and that's such a strange sight you know at this time towards the end of the week $67.00 pm rush hour moscow you've got the shopping center got bars and restaurants you've got the bolshoi really would have been packed at the time when that shooting did began and people started filming on their phones managed to get a hold of some of the footage there really showed the panic that ensued as people heard automatic gunfire in central moscow this is what managed to get a hold of. obviously we mentioned before we would have been talking an entirely different incident entirely different casualty numbers have the target been different had a target christmas market a school a metro station etc as these targets often are the moscow metro bombing the petersburg metro bombing etc really would have been talking

a different incidence and some of the witnesses of the world seem wouldn't have known that they would have been aware of how many attackers they were in reports going to show you of 3 attackers someone dressed in uniforms you know people being . shouted out to get down to run to hide in buildings it's good to have the benefit of hindsight and 2020 vision to say ok this could have been far worse we could have been talking a dozen civilians being killed here of course at the time people don't know that and as you quite rightly said they wouldn't have known how long they have left to live this is what eyewitnesses described at the scene of the incident. but is that it was sitting with my friends at a bar when the shooting began and it was the sound of a kalashnikov assault rifle i know what it sounds like my friends were like oh it must be firecrackers but i told them no way it's not firecrackers and then we saw people running down the street it was scary 1st we saw people running and then a swat team armed with assault rifles came running in the opposite direction and

then we heard massive fire we don't know what exactly happened their officers asked us to stay away from the windows and they let us leave the bar after a few hours. the thing that i cannot get out of my head of this moment was when you're talking about with this close proximity this attack was in close proximity to the most famous the largest children's toy store in moscow what just a few 100 meters down the road the mind just and i'm filled with dread when i think what might have been thank goodness it wasn't and it makes you realize how important it is to make the city center is secure is it can be and how it almost impossible it seems that is and we heard the president talking about the difficulties and the challenges in countering terrorism yeah indeed and of course people are going to speculate about the timing media's going to speculate and read about all the better taking place that of course we still haven't had that official confirmation from the security service that this is

a terrorist attack we haven't even had official confirmation at the attacker has been killed those that us come from sources from media reports but i mean it's easy to speculate but we can't say for sure what happened. until we get official confirmation but as you quite rightly said timing wise this was the day of president putin's annual press conference that would have been receiving increased media attention there would have been increased media in the center and of course as you also mentioned earlier they keep a very tight ship about the president's movements about his diary we can reveal he was in the kremlin earlier this evening he was marking an event on the eve of a national security day in russia dedicated to members of the f.s.b. of other security forces as well where he highlighted the importance of tackling extremism tackling terror in russia precisely to prevent incidents like this this is what he had to say earlier today. we need to be more active in countering

extremism if necessary and i'm compromising least the president of occasionally who . that seems to drool people is obviously you. sure radical. but i mean. to sum things up you got 5 pages of notes here over the last 2 hours as events have taken place reports coming in flying from all over the place what we can confirm 20 past 9 there have been at least 5 injuries that's been. confirmed by the ministry of health we can probably say 2 of those are security forces one of them is in critical condition one traffic police officer and at least one f.s.b. officer killed during that attack a media reports coming in that the attacker was acting alone that he had an automatic assault rifle that he has now been shot dead by security forces still pending confirmation from them still pending confirmation on the motives of this attack that's obviously going to be established by investigators at the scene who

have opened already a case in 2 murder attempted murder of police reports as well that have been looking for some sort of explosive device device in a suitcase left in the lobby of that building hence the bomb squad hence the fire engines the emergency ministries vehicles on see that salt to be confirmed the tube stops around have been opened the roads remain closed the corner means in place for friends through the work we'll bring you the latest updates as they came in over the next few hours from those official sources thanks. to our correspondent who's crossed the road from where the. you have this be a building that's earned the stand. there is on lockdown but there's no sense that there's any continued danger to people in the vicinity. behind you well i'm in central mosque on the ground and i can tell you that i can see 2 completely different scenes here one is the one behind me that 2

massive yellow brick building the main building our precious federal security service that used to be by the way they had quarters of famous soviet k.g.b. as well. the area around this building right now cordoned told there are many at least 20 i tried to con the mall police cars here many vases and the streets around this building are right now closed on the other side here which you could not see behind no camera they're resorting to rely for i can say people are coming back from war and entering matter the reason metro entrance right here it's open right now by the way i came here using saw boys well it wasn't cordoned off at all and there are many tourists we just talked to want american koppel they couldn't stand why there are so many people here and so many cameras so they didn't hear the shooting so 2 completely different worlds here and. all my right the reason big

building one of most who's biggest and oldest keyed store is there right now a days cloisonne has been closed since of the beginning of the operation for security reasons so completely different worlds here it is rather calm here but it was different 3 hours ago because this is where the shooting happened earlier on thursday just to give you an understanding of how central we are just a 15 minute walk down this road that is also open right now will take as directly to the red square and to the crown the syria we are literally in the very heart of moscow and so this shooting happened details are not yet clear but one never in wars it's clear that the attack on federal security service hats courses this legendary and symbolic building was more than just an attack i would

rather the toc on a state if you know what i mean so it's must go downtown thursday evening there were many people here at the. i when the 1st got chills were heard in the later many of them share their feelings and their emotions and many of them i noticed just cried the 1st 2nd he says confusion because people simply couldn't understand exactly what was going on and many of them to the sounds of shooting for fireworks because it's christmas time here poorest so there was a moment of confusion and many of them continued to laugh and 3 can take their dinners until police officers told them to hide and this is when panic started let's take a listen to what they i would mrs have to say. 6 pm i was leaving a store bridge in those sounds began at 1st people thought it was

a firework but the traffic police who were stand there understood the situation immediately they started shouting not to stand and watch but you wonder why people in a very efficient way so they started running away from the scene despite all the emotions i wanted to stay in film a bit but then thought what if it's a terrorist attack what if some bullets ricocheting there were not 12 or 3 shots there were lots of them so many that i can't even count at all lost it for around a minute and i left the situation was still dangerous. so you could become right now in central moscow but it is absolutely clear that these people those who we just heard they witnessed very very dramatic moments so details as i just sat are not yet clear but what is already confirmed at least one half is be your friend or old security service officer has been killed and 2 are those right now are in critical condition will keep you updated. like you seem or if

a national in central moscow for us with reports let's bring in guests now ron wrote forces geo political analyst and consultant joins me getting to. reiner we spoken to some of the guests and they've suggested you know the attack on the federal just outside the federal security service building i must say that the f.s.b. themselves said the building itself wasn't breached but this was right outside the building other guests have said this is no accident this is deliberate you don't do this unless you're a guest effectively trying to send a message if you go along with that of course i mean we're dealing with a terror attack the question always is what is the message which was to be sent out by the attackers and. fact that they have. made their strike against the. border is really alarming because it shows that they are so self confident that they believe to be used to the russian government that their russian

state at its very heart and yet this is an alarming signal and of course we have to wait for further information who may be behind such an atrocity when you took ing about someone reportedly with an automatic weapon reports that it was a kalashnikov. this could have been. a disaster on a much greater scale that suggest does that the 1st. officers who were obviously in close proximity were very quick in response. yeah indeed this is what has to be yes seen that the reaction was quick but at the same time we have to admit that our inner city is our goal or a goal to such incidents and that it's really hard to protect you know cities from

such attacks and also strikes me as that yeah larger europe not speaking about the european union and western europe alone but larger europe seems to be united in the terro in attendance of these terrible izing public. and of course their governments the states need to take actions to bring back stability and peace and to make people believe that such things cannot happen at any time anywhere but that we come back to really stable. situation circumstances as people as citizens were used to 10 or 15 years ago even 5 years ago. and look for office daniel in the studio.