Thursday, 28, March, 2024

Ten people, including an Uzbek national, have been hospitalized, with injuries after an explosion ripped through a supermarket in the Russsian city of St Petersburg on Wednesday evening.

The explosion occurred at the Perekrestok market in northwest St Petersburg. No one was killed.

The explosion was caused by a homemade bomb packed with pieces of metal with a force equivalent to 200 grams of TNT, investigators said. They have opened a criminal case on the grounds of attempted murder.

The bomb had been hidden in a locker where shoppers leave their belongings in a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket chain, according to local reports.  

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion at the market in the city's northwest Kalininsky district, and the motive remains unclear.

While officials stopped short of branding the explosion as a terror attack, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee that oversees anti-terror efforts in Russia said it was co-ordinating the search for suspects. 

The Investigative Committee has sent experts to look into the explosion, and a criminal case was launched on the grounds of attempted mass murder. 

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