FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER KILLED 14
At least 14 people have been killed and dozens more injured by a suspected female suicide bomber at a train station in Russia today.
Around 50 people are thought to be injured by the blast which occurred in the southern city of Volgograd.
It is believed a female suicide bomber is behind the attack which has raised concerns surrounding terrorism ahead of the Winter Olympics next year.
A spokesman for Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee confirmed the explosion killed 14 people, though local reports indicate as many as 18 lives could have been lost.
'Initial indications are that the blast was set off by a female suicide bomber,' a spokesman said.
The remains of a woman suspected as responsible for the attack have been recovered at the scene according to Russia Today.
The bomb was the equivalent to at least 10kg of TNT, said to Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, and was stuffed full with pieces of scrap metal.
President Vladimir Putin has reportedly instructed special flights to be laid on to airlift the injured to Moscow clinics if necessary.
Witnesses suggest the woman detonated the explosive device as she was being approached by a policeman after avoiding the station's metal detectors.
Metal detectors have been mandatory in railway stations and airports throughout Russia since a suicide bomber killed 37 people atDomodedovo airport in 2011.
Footage from a CCTV camera facing the station showed the moment the bomb went off, with a bright orange flash emerging from inside the station followed by billowing smoke.
'Someone tried to get inside the train station but was not allowed in,' an unidentified law enforcement official told Vysota 102, a local news agency. 'After that an explosion went off.'
Among the dead was a police officer checking people entering the train station and a child, The Moscow Timesreports. Local media reports claim taxi drivers queuing for customers outside the station were the first respondents to the emergency.
Volgograd mayor, Irina Guseva said the drivers were able to save lives by taking injured victims to hospital before ambulances arrived at the scene.
The attack comes months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian tagets in Russia, including the 2014 Games which will take place in Sochi.
In October, a female suicide bomber blew herself up on a bus in the city where today's attack took place, killing six people and injuring about 30.
Officials said at the time the attacker came from the province of Dagestan, the center of an Islamist insurgency that has spread across the region after two separatist wars in Chechnya.
On Friday a car rigged with explosives blew up on a street in Pyatigorsk in the North Caucasus Mountains.
Around 50 people are thought to be injured by the blast which occurred in the southern city of Volgograd.
It is believed a female suicide bomber is behind the attack which has raised concerns surrounding terrorism ahead of the Winter Olympics next year.
A spokesman for Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee confirmed the explosion killed 14 people, though local reports indicate as many as 18 lives could have been lost.
'Initial indications are that the blast was set off by a female suicide bomber,' a spokesman said.
The remains of a woman suspected as responsible for the attack have been recovered at the scene according to Russia Today.
The bomb was the equivalent to at least 10kg of TNT, said to Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, and was stuffed full with pieces of scrap metal.
President Vladimir Putin has reportedly instructed special flights to be laid on to airlift the injured to Moscow clinics if necessary.
Witnesses suggest the woman detonated the explosive device as she was being approached by a policeman after avoiding the station's metal detectors.
Metal detectors have been mandatory in railway stations and airports throughout Russia since a suicide bomber killed 37 people atDomodedovo airport in 2011.
Footage from a CCTV camera facing the station showed the moment the bomb went off, with a bright orange flash emerging from inside the station followed by billowing smoke.
'Someone tried to get inside the train station but was not allowed in,' an unidentified law enforcement official told Vysota 102, a local news agency. 'After that an explosion went off.'
Among the dead was a police officer checking people entering the train station and a child, The Moscow Timesreports. Local media reports claim taxi drivers queuing for customers outside the station were the first respondents to the emergency.
Volgograd mayor, Irina Guseva said the drivers were able to save lives by taking injured victims to hospital before ambulances arrived at the scene.
The attack comes months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian tagets in Russia, including the 2014 Games which will take place in Sochi.
In October, a female suicide bomber blew herself up on a bus in the city where today's attack took place, killing six people and injuring about 30.
Officials said at the time the attacker came from the province of Dagestan, the center of an Islamist insurgency that has spread across the region after two separatist wars in Chechnya.
On Friday a car rigged with explosives blew up on a street in Pyatigorsk in the North Caucasus Mountains.
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