Russia blast: One child among 16 killed, bomber`s head found

Zee Media Bureau/Himanshu Kapoor

Moscow: In a suicide attack, a female bomber blew herself up at the entrance of a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd on Sunday killing at least 16 people, including one child. It is a second deadly attack in country as it prepares itself to host the upcoming Winter Olympics. According to reports, the woman detonated the explosives in front of a metal gate just inside the main entrance of the Volgograd station. The blast was caught on the CCTV cameras, which showed a huge fireball in the hall and smoke billowing from the shattered windows. Those injured in the attack were seen lying on the ground, screaming for medical help, the reports stated. A local news agency said that President Vladimir Putin has asked the law enforcement agencies to take all necessary measures to ensure security. Around 42 people were wounded in the attack and some would be flown to Moscow for treatment, Russian Heath Ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai said. The blast took place at 12.45 pm (8:45 a.m. GMT) in the Volgograd-1 train station. The incident is being treated as an act of terrorism, the committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said. A criminal case was launched under two articles - 205 (act of terrorism) and 222 (illegal turnover of arms and ammunition), official spokesman for the Investigative Committee of Russia Vladimir Markin has said. Markin said that the power of the explosion was equivalent to at least 10 kg of TNT and was stuffed with pieces of scrap metal. According to reports, the head of the female bomber who committed the act of terror has been discovered. This "will make it possible to identify her (bomber)," a Volgograd law enforcement source said. Earlier this week, the country was shaken by another suicide bombing attack in which three people were killed in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk.