The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Reuters reported that a homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, according to Russian authorities.
The explosion occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time near an Italian restaurant at Kudrinskaya Square, one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers, police said.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said an unidentified woman had attempted to enter the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard, according to the state-run RIA news agency. The woman, the security guard and a customer at the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant were killed in the blast, the report said.
Police said the injured suffered wounds of varying severity. Emergency responders and heavily armed law enforcement officers were deployed to the scene, which was sealed off to the public, according to RIA.
Authorities did not identify those killed or injured and did not say who they believed was responsible for the explosion.
The incident comes more than four years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said earlier this year that authorities would strengthen security measures for senior military officials following a series of assassinations and attempted killings that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.
The Kommersant newspaper, citing its own sources, reported that the bomb may have been intended to target people gathered on the restaurant’s outdoor summer terrace. The newspaper suggested that the device may have been detonated remotely and that the woman carrying it might not have known it was an explosive device.
The restaurant’s website said the venue had been closed Saturday for a private event.
