St. Petersburg blast was act of terror, Putin says

ST. PETERSBURG - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said an explosion that tore through a St. Petersburg supermarket, wounding 13 people, was an act of terror, as footage of the suspected bomber spread on the internet.

Speaking at a meeting with military officers in the Kremlin, Putin ordered the nation's security services to "act decisively" and "liquidate bandits on the spot" if armed militants put up resistance.

His spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters later that Putin was referring to all those "who harbor plans to carry out acts of terror in our country".

Footage posted online by local media showed a man - who did not appear Slavic and wore a hooded jacket - enter the supermarket with a backpack and leave without it a short time afterward.

The blast was caused by a "homemade explosive device with the power equivalent to 200 grams of TNT filled with lethal fragments," said a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, in a statement.

"The investigation is looking at all possible causes of what happened," she said, adding that a probe for attempted murder had been launched.

Those wounded in the attack included a 35-year-old pregnant woman.

The incident came several months after Russia's second city was rocked with a metro bombing in April which killed 16 people.

It also came after the Federal Security Service said earlier this month it had prevented a terror attack on a key Orthodox cathedral in the city with the help of the CIA, which led Putin to thank US President Donald Trump.

An AFP correspondent at the scene observed first responders and police as well as a car belonging to the FSB, which investigates acts of terror.

The building containing the supermarket did not appear to have sustained serious damage.

Police have cordoned off the area while the city's transportation authorities briefly rerouted public transport in the neighborhood.

Passer-by Galina Gustova, 58, observed the scene with horror.

"How terrible! And this happens as people are shopping ahead of the holidays," she said. "It's a good thing nobody died."

"I often buy groceries here, I wanted to go in but everything is blocked," said another local, 20-year-old Viktoria Smirnova.

"I'm a doctor, I heard on the news that there was an explosion. I live nearby and thought I could be useful," said another bystander, 50-year-old Marina Bulanova.

Bomb in a locker

Russian media said the explosive device had been placed in a storage locker.

"About 6:30 pm there was the sound of a blast. As a result, several people have been injured," the St. Petersburg police said.

"There is no fire. All shoppers have been evacuated," an emergencies ministry representative told Interfax.

Witness Artur Yeritsyan told TASS news agency that he heard the blast and saw smoke in the shop, but that there were not a lot of customers at the time, with some victims being taken away by ambulances.

St. Petersburg was the target of a metro bombing in April, which also left dozens of people wounded.

The bombing was claimed by a group linked to al-Qaida which said it was a message to countries engaged in the antiterrorism war.

St. Petersburg is one of the cities to host the World Cup next summer in Russia, and security services have been stepping up security measures.

Afp - Ap - Xinhua

(China Daily 12/29/2017 page11)