ALBAWABA - A bomb blast in a restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday has caused the deaths of three people and the injury of 21 others.
Reports say a woman carried a homemade explosive and tried to enter the Balzi Rossi restaurant on the ground floor of one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers in Kudrinskaya Square.
The woman was stopped by a security guard before entering the restaurant which may have helped mitigate the possible casualties of the blast, leaving the casualties to be the woman, the security guard, and one restaurant customer.
This however, could not be verified independently as authorities have yet to release the names of those killed or injured, nor have they named a suspect.
Initial reports on the scene stated that the explosion may have been caused by a gas canister before Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee told state news that the explosion was in fact caused by an improvised explosive device (IED).
Another unconfirmed report circulating on the Telegram monitoring channel ASTRA, citing witnesses on the scene, stated that the explosion took place near where a Russian general was celebrating his birthday; authorities have not confirmed this claim; the restaurant’s website said the venue was closed Saturday for a private event.
Russian newspaper Kommersant, citing its own sources, said the bomb may have been detonated remotely by someone else and that the woman might have not even known she was carrying a bomb.
Russian authorities’ investigation is still ongoing.
