Thaindian News

Moscow, April 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) At least 29 people, including nine children, were injured Friday in four successive bomb attacks in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk city, the government said.

Police said at least one bomb attack was averted. All of the explosive devices were placed in garbage bins. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks.

A law enforcement official said all the bombs were homemade without any solid encasement. Another source told RIA Novosti there were 10 explosions.

The attackers “evidently hoped to produce an effect” rather than cause maximum damage, the official said.

Between three and seven people were hurt when an explosive device went off at a tram stop in the central part of the city.

The second blast took place about an hour later outside a cinema, injuring seven people.

The third explosion took place near a railway terminal and the fourth in a public park.

Several people were hospitalized, and traffic in the central part of the city came to a standstill.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said there were rumours that several people were killed, but the report could not be officially confirmed.

“Nobody knows where to run, where to hide. People are trying to leave their offices and go home but police are forcing them back into the buildings,” it said.

The RBK-Ukraina agency reported disruptions in mobile communication services.

A criminal case was opened under a “terrorism” statute, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered the interior minister to head the investigation into the bombings, while President Viktor Yanukovych described the attacks as “yet another challenge for us, for the entire country”.

–IANS/RIA Novosti
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