A suicide attack on a train station in Russia's southern city of Volgograd has killed 16 people, officials say.
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| The blast blew out many windows and sent debris down the station steps |
There are contradictory reports over the gender of the bomber, amid official claims it was a woman.
A suspected female suicide bomber killed at least six people when she attacked a bus in the city in October.
Moscow is concerned militant groups could be ramping up
violence in the run up to the the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city
of Sochi in six weeks.
Orange flash
Sunday's explosion rocked Volgograd-1 station
at around 12:45 (08:45 GMT) at a time when millions of Russians are
travelling to celebrate the New Year.
A nearby security camera facing the station caught the moment
of the blast, showing a bright orange flash behind the station's main
doors.
The explosion shattered windows and sent debris and plumes of smoke from the station entrance.
Motionless bodies were laid out in the station forecourt
while ambulances rushed those hurt to hospital. About 40 people are said
to have been injured, including a nine-year-old girl whose mother was
killed in the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered law enforcement
agencies to take "all necessary security measures" in the bomb's
aftermath, said a Kremlin spokesman.
He ordered the most gravely injured victims to be flown to Moscow for treatment.
Security would be stepped up at train stations and airports, said a federal police spokesman.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but a
spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, said
the incident was being treated as an act of terrorism.
An Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus region has led
to many attacks there in recent years. Insurgents have also attacked big
Russian towns.
Volgograd lies about 900km (560 miles) south of Moscow, 650km north of the North Caucasus and 700km north-east of Sochi.
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