A photo taken on a cell phone, made available by Volgograd Mayor’s Office, shows debris strewn about outside an entrance to Volgograd railway station, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013 after a female suicide bomber detonated at least 10 kg of TNT strapped to her body.
A female suicide bomber struck in Volgograd, Russia killing 16 and sending at least 37 people to hospital, of these 9 were identified as small children. At the time of detonation the railway was packed with commuters.
“According to preliminary reports, this was a terrorist act. Fifteen people have lost their lives, 37 were injured, 30 of them more critically than others. An Emergencies plane is waiting to be dispatched from Moscow,” Volgograd Region governor Sergey Bozhenov told ITAR-TASS.
The LA Times wrongly reported just hours ago that only 14 people were killed. Moscow officials I talked to confirm the number was 15 (source: Female suicide bombers kills 14 at Russian Railway yard http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-suicide-bomber-russia-20131229,0,7698878.story#axzz2orjnCh7t).
The blast took place at 12.45 local time inside the building of the railway. It is “thought to have been carried out by a female suicide bomber,” according to the anti-terrorism committee’s statement.
“At 12.45 we got informed that a boom or a blast was heard in the building of the railway station, Volgograd-1. Smoke was reported,” Svetlana Smolyaninova, a police spokesperson said, according to RIA Novosti.
The power of the explosion at Volgograd’s station was equivalent to at least 10 kg TNT, according to sources close to the investigation. The explosive device was also stuffed with scrap pieces of metal of various sizes – to increase it lethality .
One witness describes the carnage that he saw, saying: “two bodies lying in front of the entrance, pieces of shattered glass are everywhere, there’s a ton of rubble there.”
Another witness describes blood and human body parts littering the entire area, including a torso and what may have been a small child’s severed hand and arm.
President Vladimir Putin has ordered that all the necessary measures be taken to assist survivors and provide security in Volgograd, the Kremlin reported.
Sources indicate that Mikhail Fradkov the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service was alerted about the terrorist attack and certain elements of the military has gone on alert.
Under Presidential decree section 4.1. The SVR is tasked with the direct management of special forces and means for detection and interdiction of terrorist organizations and groups, their leaders, and those involved in organizing and carrying out terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation, at the operational headquarters in the Russian Federation, the territories which deployed these capabilities (source: http://svr.gov.ru/svr_today/doc12.htm).