MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti) – Officials in Russia said that up to six people may have been killed Monday after a bus in the southern city of Volgograd was hit by a blast believed to have been the result of a terrorist attack.
If early suspicions that the bus was targeted in a terrorist are confirmed, it will awake new fears over security as Russia prepares to hold the Winter Olympics early next year.
The National Antiterrorist Committee said in a statement that it believed the explosion was the result of a bombing attack. Russian officials said that the death toll was between five and six people.
“Fragments of an explosive device have been found at the scene of the blast,” a local law enforcement source in the city of Volgograd told RIA Novosti.
Earlier reports had suggested the explosion could have been due to the faulty fuel feeding system in the bus, which ran on natural gas.
As of 4:05 pm local time, 27 people had been taken to hospital, including eight in serious condition, a city public health official told RIA Novosti.
The office for Volgograd governor said victims of the blast will be provided with financial support.
“What is being dealt with first is providing medical assistance,” a representative with the governor’s office said.
The explosion took place at 14:25 p.m. local time (1025 GMT) in the Kransoarmeisk district in Volgograd, a city formerly known as Stalingrad.
The Investigative Committee said it has opened a case on multiple murder, terrorism-related and arms trafficking charges.
Updates with modified headline, more detail
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