MINSK – An explosion in a crowded metro station in the centre of the Belarussian capital, Minsk, yesterday killed 11 people and injured about 100, President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed.
The blast occurred at 5.55pm at the metro station Oktyabrskaya, about 100 metres from the president’s administration building.
Mr Lukashenko visited the site and later told the state news agency he believed the explosion to have been a deliberate act.
If this is the case it would be extremely unusual for Belarus, a tightly policed former Soviet republic of 10 million people.
An interior ministry spokesman told reporters at the scene: “According to preliminary data, there are seven dead and about 50 injured.” That figure later rose to 11 and 100.
Victims were carried out of the station and the injured were given on-the-spot medical treatment.
A man who gave his name as Igor said a train was coming into the station when the blast occurred on the platform.
“The doors [of the train] opened and then there was an explosion,” he said. “I saw people lying on the floor without moving. There was a lot of blood.” Other witnesses spoke of a flash and a bang and debris falling from the ceiling of the metro station.
Political tension has been high in Belarus since a December election gave Mr Lukashenko a fourth term, to the dismay of the opposition and the West. – (Reuters)