3 killed and 21 injured in Moscow restaurant bomb attack

A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21

in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening.

Russia's Anti-Terrorist Committee said that an unidentified woman tried

to get into the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard.

A heavy police presence outside the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant

in central Moscow

after an explosion occurred around 8 pm.

Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee said that an unidentified woman

tried to get into the restaurant but was stopped by a security guard.

Ria Novosti reported the woman was attempting to smuggle

the IED (improvised explosive device) into the establishment

but the security guard refused to let her in before the bomb exploded.

The woman, the security guard and a customer at the restaurant

were killed in the blast.

The restaurant is located in one of Moscow's seven

Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square.

The area was closed off to the public by police after

the incident.

Police did not name those killed or injured nor did they say

who they thought might have been responsible.

More than four years into a full-scale war with Ukraine

Russia's FSB security service said earlier this year that

authorities would step up protection for high-ranking

military officials after a series of assassinations

and attempted killings it blamed on Kyiv.

The Kommersant daily newspaper cited its own sources

as saying that the bomb intended to maim and kill guests

who were enjoying themselves on the restaurant's summer terrace outside.

It suggested the bomb has been set off by someone else

remotely and that the woman carrying it may not have known

that it was an explosive device.

Moscow Investigative Committee said the attack was still being investigated.