SAMARA, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - At least eight people died and 45 were injured on Wednesday morning in a suspected terrorist blast on a bus in central Togliatti, a city on Russia's Volga River.
A spokesman for the regional police department said an explosive device with a charge of 1 kilogram of TNT equivalent, with no solid encasement, had been discovered fastened to underside of the bus.
Vladimir Artyakov, the governor of the Samara Region in which Togliatti is located, said a criminal case has been launched to investigate the explosion as a terrorist attack.
Andrei Derbenev, a spokesman for the city's rescue service, earlier said 20 people had been hospitalized, of whom two were in a critical condition.
Several others have also have requested medical help. "Many of them were a long way from the bus at the time of the blast, but were hit by fragments. The shockwaves smashed windows on the ground and first floors of a nearby building."
Togliatti, with a population of about 700,000 people, is home to Russia's largest automaker Avtovaz, which produces cars under the Lada brand.