Moscow, Dec 05: At least 40 people, mostly students, were killed and over 150 injured when a suspected Chechen suicide bomber triggered a powerful explosion in a moving train in southern Russia near the war-torn republic of Chechnya. At least 10 kg of TNT equivalent of explosive tied to the suicide bomber's belt was triggered by the female terrorist travelling in the coach, the Interior Ministry said.
A total of 103 people have been hospitalised with 20 of them stated to be in serious condition.
The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolai Patrushev said three women and one man had carried out the blast during early morning rush hour.
"We also found fragments of a man with grenades around his legs, meaning that he was a suicide bomber," Patrushev said in televised comments.
Investigators have recovered the fragments of the body of suicide bomber along with at least 10 unexploded hand grenades, Itar-TASS reported quoting FSB sources.
Condemning the bombing, President Vladimir Putin said it was "an attempt to destabilise the situation in the country on the eve of the parliamentary elections," scheduled for Sunday.
Justice Minister Yury Chaika told Interfax news agency that "according to one version" the bombing is "tied to Chechen terrorists aiming to demoralise people."
Bureau Report