RUSSIA: Two explosions ripped through a market in northeast Moscow yesterday, killing 10 people and injuring 41. The blasts cut down traders and customers at the popular market as business reached its mid-morning peak.
Moscow's acting mayor, Vladimir Resin, told reporters that the explosions were "an intentional act" caused by a homemade bomb, and prosecutors said that a feud between rival gangs was the most likely motive.
Moscow city prosecutor Yuri Syomin said that a device containing the equivalent of 1.2kg of TNT had been detonated. The federal security service arrested two men, said to be in their teens or early 20s. They denied being responsible for the bombing.
Witnesses said two blasts at about 10.30am tore through the Eurasia section of Cherkizovsky market, one of the city's most popular sources of fresh produce and cheap clothes. Television pictures showed a walkway between small shops covered in rubble. Mr Resin said 10 people had died. Forty-one were being treated in hospital.
Witnesses spoke of horrific scenes in the aftermath of the explosions, with at least one victim decapitated and many maimed.
Rescuers combed the remains of a two-storey building that was partly destroyed by the blasts. Sniffer dogs were employed to seek out traces of explosives.
Interfax news agency quoted Svetlana Petrenko, press officer for the Moscow prosecutor's office, as saying the dead included five Chinese nationals and one Vietnamese. The nationality of the others was not known immediately because they had no documents on them.
Mr Syomin rushed to the market with a team of detectives and investigators. The blasts were likely to be a "business or criminal settling of scores", he told reporters after inspecting the scene. The second blast was possibly a gas cylinder exploding.
Interior ministry sources said the blasts were not regarded as a terrorist attack, and initially blamed them on a gas leak. However, prosecutors opened a criminal case on murder charges, suggesting a business dispute was behind the attack.
Home-made bombs have often been used in turf wars between Russian enterprises.
Cherkizovsky market, which sprawls across several acres, has been the scene of several violent confrontations between police and traders from central Asia.
In February, 66 people died when the roof of the Baumansky market in Moscow collapsed under the weight of a heavy snow fall.
- (Guardian service)