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At least three people died, and 21 were left injured after a woman carrying an improvised explosive device detonated a bomb near a summer cafe in central Moscow after being stopped by security, according to officials.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC) updated the injury toll to 21 people from an initial report of 15, adding that they were "injured in various degrees of severity." The blast occurred at approximately 8:10 p.m. local time near house No. 1 on Kudrinskaya Square in the center of the Russian capital, TASS cited the Interior Ministry as saying. According to the NAC, the explosion was triggered when a security guard intervened to block a suspect carrying an explosive device into the venue. "On August 1, 2026, at 07:55 p.m. Moscow time (04:55 p.m. GMT), an improvised explosive device went off in a restaurant in Moscow, killing three people: a security guard who prevented an unknown woman suspected of trying to carry the explosive device into the restaurant, the unknown woman and one of the visitors," the NAC statement read, according to TASS. TASS reported that the three deceased include the security guard, the female suspect, and a cafe customer. Russian medical authorities confirmed that emergency medical care was deployed immediately for those wounded in the blast. Alexey Kuznetsov, an aide to the health minister, told reporters, "The casualties of the explosion in the restaurant in Moscow are receiving all the necessary medical care," adding that all necessary assistance is being provided to the wounded. Investigators and criminologists from the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow arrived at the scene to inspect the site and determine the full circumstances of the blast. "In connection with the incident that occurred in the building on Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow, investigators and criminologists from the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow are working on the site. An inspection of the site is currently underway," the Investigative Committee said in a statement carried by TASS. Meanwhile, NAC noted that "the necessary search measures and investigative actions aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident are currently being carried out." Following the explosion, police officers and Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya) restricted public access to the area surrounding the residential high-rise on Kudrinskaya Square, according to a TASS correspondent on the scene. TASS reported that as a direct safety precaution, the Moscow Department of Transport postponed the city's scheduled Second Night Cycling Festival. (ANI)
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