Authorities say a woman carrying an improvised explosive device was stopped by security before the blast; probe under way
At least three people were killed and 21 injured in an explosion outside a restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, Russian authorities said.
The blast occurred around 8 pm near a restaurant located in one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinskaya Square, the Russian Interior Ministry said in a statement posted on the social media platform Max.
Authorities said the explosion was caused by a handmade bomb carried by a woman.
Woman among the dead
Those killed included the woman carrying the device, a security guard and a restaurant customer. Authorities did not release the identities of those killed or injured.
The injured suffered serious wounds, The Guardian reported, citing police.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee told state news agency TASS that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED).
According to the committee, the unidentified woman tried to enter the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard before the explosion.
Remote detonation suspected
Initial reports suggested the blast occurred inside the restaurant’s kitchen. However, the restaurant later said in a statement that “there was a problem outside”.
Citing sources, the Kommersant newspaper reported that the bomb had been intended to kill and injure guests at the restaurant’s summer terrace. It added that the device may have been detonated remotely by another person without the knowledge of the woman carrying it. The claim has not been independently verified.
The restaurant’s website said it had been closed on Saturday for a private event.
Area sealed off
Video released by state-run RIA showed heavily armed law enforcement personnel at the scene after the area was cordoned off.
Traffic around Kudrinskaya Square was temporarily suspended, while entrances to the Barrikadnaya metro station were closed, according to Russian media.
Several senior Russian military figures have been assassinated in and around the russian capital in the recent year, to which Moscow has blamed Ukraine
