Blast in Moscow center kills 10

Suicide bomber kills herself near the entrance to the Rizhskaya metro station

A powerful blast shocked the center of Moscow yesterday. A bomb blew up near the entrance to the Rizhskaya metro station, very close to a big department store. The power of the blast was equal to about one kilogram of trotyl, a special agent told PRAVDA.Ru on the site of the tragedy.

Soon after the tragedy, Russian media outlets reported that the gasoline tank of an Audi car parked near the department store exploded. However, the power of the blast, which could be felt in the office of PRAVDA.Ru, was equal to the above-mentioned estimation. That is why the version of the gasoline tank explosion is not true to fact.

A correspondent of PRAVDA.Ru, who returned to the office from the site of the explosion, disagrees with a spokesman for the Russian Emergency Ministry, who said the blast took place at 8:17 p.m. The tragedy happened at 8:05 p.m. Another correspondent of PRAVDA.Ru, who was walking not far from the Rizhskaya metro station at the time, when the explosion occurred, confirms this information. The office of PRAVDA.Ru is situated about 300 meters from the site of the blast.

According to special services, the blast near the Rizhskaya metro station in the center of Moscow killed ten people, injured 51, 49 people were hospitalized. A senior FSB official, Sergey Ignatchenko, said there were eight children among the wounded.

Terrorist act in Moscow's center: Photo gallery

One of al-Qaeda's divisions, the so-called “Islambouli Brigades” group, claimed responsibility for the latest terrorist act in Moscow. The group has acknowledged its implication in recent air crashes in Russia.

The type of the bomb that was used at yesterday's explosion in Moscow center was similar to another bomb, which blew up near one of the bus stops on Kashirskoye Highway on August 24th. Investigators do not exclude that the latest blast is directly connected with terrorist acts on board the two crashed jetliners Tu-154 and Tu-134 and near the bus stop. Law-enforcement officers are currently investigating the information about two of the four suicide bombers, who could supposedly stay in Moscow after the air crashes, as PRAVDA.Ru reported before. One of them  probably killed herself yesterday, as she blew up the bomb near the Rizhskaya metro station.

Reportedly, the name of the suicide bomber, who killed herself next to the metro station yesterday, is Rosa Nagayeva. She is a sister of Aminat Nagayeva – the prime suspect in the crash of the Tu-134 liner.

Police officers investigating the explosion say that the bomb was placed either underneath the VAZ-2107 vehicle, parked near the station, or it was a Shakhid belt bomb on the suicide terrorist.