Casualties reported following St Petersburg store explosion; IED Device Detonated

© Alexander Demyanchuk/TASS

An improvised explosive device with a power equivalent to 200 grams of TNT was detonated in a shopping mall

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. An explosion in a St. Petersburg entertainment center has left at least ten people injured, emergency services told TASS on Wednesday.

“There was a bang. Emergency personnel are already on the scene. The evacuation has been completed,” a local Emergencies Ministry official added.

Photos courtesy 5TV News, Twitter

Russia’s Investigative Committee pursues all lines of inquiry probing the explosion at St. Petersburg’s shopping mall, the Investigative Committee told TASS.

“The investigators are exploring all lines of inquiry,” he said.

“An improvised explosive device stuffed with shrapnel and with a power equivalent to 200 grams of TNT was detonated in a shopping mall,” Svetlana Petrenko, the Spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee, has confirmed.

Petrenko said that the investigators are following up all lines of inquiry.

The city’s department of the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into the attempted murder against two and more persons.

Investigators, forensic experts, security services and police officers are working at the crime scene.

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