Five injured in grenade blast at Moscow bus stop

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, a trendy 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.