Terrorist attack in Moscow: Islam, the teenage hero who managed to evacuate a hundred people

“Honestly, I don’t consider myself a hero, it was just part of my job,” 15-year-old Islam Khalilov said in a video from Russian state media RT. But this is how the teenager was portrayed after the attack on a concert hall in Moscow on Friday, which left at least 137 people dead. Working part-time in the Crocus City Hall locker room, he was present at the time of the attack and helped evacuate about a hundred people, Russian media reported.

“When people started running down the escalator, down the stairs, I realized there was an attack,” he says. In the immediate chaos, he maintains his cool. “I started shouting to everyone: There is shooting! Everyone’s going to the Expo “, part of the building from which those present could evacuate. “I showed them where to go and helped everyone I could,” he said.

Video circulated on social media shows him running through hallways and shouting at people following him. “Here, here, here!” Everyone goes this way. Everything is there. At the exhibition, at the exhibition…,” he says, according to a translation by the Daily Mail. According to independent media Insiderthree other teenagers, also working in the locker rooms that evening, helped those present escape.

Islam Khalilov said that he was the last to evacuate “so as not to leave anyone behind.” “It’s better to sacrifice yourself than to let a hundred people die,” he says. He still explains that he was “very scared” throughout the episode. “The terrorists were on the ground floor near the main entrance, above me,” says the teenager, “I saw one with a beard, in green camouflage clothing, with a rifle.” He also explains that a man was killed right in front of him, an image he “can’t stop thinking about.”

Publicly praised for bravery

The teenager, a Spartak Moscow fan, also met with the players on Sunday. He received several gifts from them, including a personalized T-shirt and a club subscription.

The young man was especially praised for his action, receiving a certificate from the Russian authorities for dedication and courage. The representative of Russia’s Muslims, Grand Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, also told Russian media RIA Novosti that he would present Islam Khalilov, a Muslim, with a medal of merit during the ceremony.

Friday’s attack in the Russian capital is the deadliest on European soil claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State. Health services reported Sunday evening that the number of injured stood at 182, of whom 101 were still in hospital. On Sunday, investigators continued to search through the rubble of a building destroyed in a giant fire set by the attackers.

At the scene of the tragedy, the police also found about 500 bullets, two Kalashnikov assault rifles and 28 magazines. Four men, arrested and charged with “terrorism” (facing life imprisonment), were placed in pre-trial detention. In total, Russian authorities reported the arrest of eleven people, including four attackers, in connection with the attack.