VOLGOGRAD, Russia — Police in Volgograd say a bomb has exploded in the southern Russian city and a second explosive device was destroyed before it could go off, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.
Officials said the bomb exploded near the building of the city transport and traffic inspection (GIBDD). City residents informed police that a strange man left a package near the building at 5:30 a.m on April 26.
No casualties were reported and the building was not damaged in the blast, although the explosion left a crater that was one-meter deep and 1.5-meters wide.
A suspicious package was reported later at the Police Academy. Nataliya Kunitskaya of the regional Investigation Committee told journalists that it turned out to be a homemade bomb and that it was destroyed in a controlled explosion by a bomb disposal squad. There were no casualties.
Several other phone calls reporting possible bombs in various parts of the city turned out to be false, Kunitskaya added.
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