Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the bomb blast in a busy supermarket in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday was a terrorist act.
He added that another attack in the city had been foiled by the security services.
A bomb went off in a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket, wounding at least 13 shoppers in Putin’s hometown.
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Investigators have said that the homemade bomb used in the attack contained 200 grams (7 ounces) of explosives and was rigged with shrapnel to cause even more damage.
Press TV reports: No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.
‘When in danger, kill, don’t capture’
Putin said that if there was a threat to the lives of law enforcement officers, they needed to “act decisively, not to capture anyone and to kill on the spot.”
The Russian president announced that another terrorist attack had been thwarted in St. Petersburg but declined to provide further details.
A bombing attack killed 15 people and wounded dozens on the city’s metro in April. The bombing was claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group.
Earlier this month, Russian security forces arrested a group of Daesh terrorists who had intended to blow up the Kazan Cathedral — one of St. Petersburg’s most famous landmarks.
The mission in Syria
Putin, who was speaking at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin for Russian personnel who served in Syria, said the Syrian army, with the support of Moscow’s air force and navy, had liberated nearly the entire Arab country from the clutches of Daesh.
“More than 48,000 officers and soldiers have taken part in the operation in Syria over the past two years. They are representatives of nearly all military professions — pilots and sailors, special forces and military police, sappers, scouts, communications officers, medical and logistics specialists, command officers, and military advisers,” Putin said.
Since September 2015, Moscow has been carrying out an aerial bombardment campaign against the positions of extremist militants in Syria on an official request from the Damascus government.
