09/12/2003

Six die in Moscow suicide bombing

The death toll of a suicide bombing close to Moscow's Red Square has risen six, according to reports emerging from the Russian capital today.

The explosion occurred this morning outside the National Hotel, only a few hundred metres away from the Kremlin, which houses the Russian parliament.

According to Moscow police sources 13 people were reported to have been injured in the blast, though official confirmation on the numbers wounded has yet to be made.

Local news agencies and Reuters have reported that two or possibly three female suicide bombers were involved, and that the hotel was most probably not their intended target.

President Putin had been due to make a speech to the Duma, Russia's equivalent of the House of Commons, this morning, and the bombers are thought to have been making their way there when the explosives detonated.

Although it is not clear who was responsible for the attack, authorities had warned that Chechen rebels could strike this week as voting for Russia's parliamentary elections took place.

Today's outrage follows on from last week's suicide attack on a train close to the Chechen border in southern Russia in which 44 people died.

(gmcg)

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