A blast in a supermarket in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg that injured ten people on Wednesday was caused by a homemade bomb, an official said.
“A homemade explosive device with the power equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT filled with lethal fragments went off in a Saint Petersburg shopping centre,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told Russian news agencies.
According to the head of Saint Petersburg governor’s press office, Andrey Kibitov, ten people have been hospitalized after the incident, with one of them in serious condition.
Saint Petersburg Vice Governor Anna Mityatina said a task force has been formed to monitor the situation after the blast and assist the injured.
Earlier this month, a tip from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency prevented a terror plot in Saint Petersburg that would target Kazan cathedral and other public places in the city.
On December 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin called his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to thank him for the provided information.
________________________________________________________________________
With reporting by AFP