December 8,
2015
Moscow (AFP) -
Five people were lightly injured when a grenade exploded
at a bus stop in central Moscow, authorities said
Tuesday.
The hand grenade
went off Monday night on Pokrovka Street, an area in
central Moscow dotted with bars and restaurants, Moscow
police spokesman Alexei Shapkin told AFP.
Investigators
were treating the blast as an act of hooliganism, police
said.
Authorities initially said the blast was caused by a
makeshift explosive thrown either from a car or a nearby
residential building.
A spokeswoman for Moscow city hall's health
department said four people received medical attention
Monday night and three of them were hospitalised.
A fifth person turned to the authorities for help and
was hospitalised on Tuesday, she told AFP.
Smashed glass could be seen at the bus stop and
several police cars, fire engines and an ambulance were
at the scene, an AFP correspondent reported from the
scene Monday night.
"I was at the
bus stop and suddenly we heard a loud explosion. It was
terrifying," a 28-year-old woman identified as Ksenia
told LifeNews.
"I first thought
there were people shooting and I ran away from the bus
stop," she said.