At least ten people have been reportedly killed after two explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg on Monday. The number of casualty is likely to go up.
At least one of the explosions took place on a subway car at the Sennaya Ploshchad station, state-run TASS reported.
Another Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, and some eyewitnesses claimed that there were twin blasts at two metro stations.
A total of 25 people, including children, have sustained injuries due to the twin blasts.
The explosions took place at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin was in the city to hold talks with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the explosion.
However, it is not clear if Putin is still in the city. Meanwhile, President Putin has offered condolences to the families of those killed in St. Petersburg subway explosions, the Russian media said.
Russian authorities said that President Putin is considering all possibilities including terrorism.
The blasts took place in quick successions around 2.30 pm local time on the blue line of the underground system.
A witness saw eight ambulances near the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station.
The door of a train coach was blown off by the impact of the explosions, said reports.
An explosion hit the metro system of Russia`s second city Saint Petersburg on Monday, the firm running it said earlier, after an unidentified object blew up in a train.
The cause of the blasts is still unknown.
The subway’s administration says several stations in the northern Russian city have been closed and that an evacuation is underway.
The Moscow Metro also said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.
Video of the blasts showed injured people lying bleeding on a platform, some being treated by emergency services. Others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke.
Russia has been the target of attacks by Chechen militants in past years. Chechen rebel leaders have frequently threatened further attacks.
At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains.
Over 330 people, half of them children, were killed in 2004 when police stormed a school in southern Russia after a hostage taking by Islamist militants. In 2002, 120 hostages were killed when police stormed a Moscow theatre to end another hostage taking.
As prime minister, Putin had launched a 1999 campaign to crush a separatist government in the muslim southern region of Chechnya, and as president continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
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