- Title: RUSSIA: Explosion kills three in St Petersburg
- Date: 25th November 2008
- Summary: PEOPLE AND POLICE CARS OUTSIDE METRO STATION
- Embargoed: 10th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Reuters ID: LVA8DB6C6SQ8JEDGHOFKVZB082S4
- Story Text: Grenade explosion in a car in St Petersburg kills three people including a child in what officials describe as a murder unrelated to terrorism.
A grenade explosion in a car in Russia's second city of St Petersburg on Tuesday (November 25) killed three people and seriously injured a fourth, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The child was said to be two or three years old.
The explosion happened outside the Udelnaya metro station during morning rush hour.
Russian news agencies quoted the chief of St Petersburg's city police force as saying the explosion was not an act of terrorism. They said the dead were from the same family and the seriously injured man was a taxi driver.
Russian state television channel Vesti-24 said investigators were treating the blast as murder.
Alexander Claus of the St Petersburg Prosecutor's office told reporters at the blast site: "At 8:55 a car, a Lada Priora, containing a grenade exploded near Udelnaya metro station. Three people were in the car and all three got killed. The Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office in St Petersburg has opened a criminal case, according to Article 105 part 2 points a, e of the criminal code, defined here as a deliberate murder of two or more people in a way dangerous for society. An investigation conducted by the special crime unit is under way. Three people got killed and a driver is wounded."
Passer-by Alexander Potkin heard the explosion.
"I heard a sound like a bang, then someone started shouting. I thought there were children throwing bangers and kept walking," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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