According to Russian officials, on Saturday, a powerful homemade bomb sent a high speed train careening off its tracks. This train was making a run from Moscow to St. Petersburg when the bomb went off. Officials consider this an act of terrorism.
The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said experts found pieces of an explosive device that detonated around 9:30 Friday night as the train raced over it, gouging a five-foot (1.5 meter) crater and strewing smoking wreckage over a rural stretch of track. He said a terrorism inquiry had been opened.
As many as 100 people were left injured by the disaster, officials said, and 18 remained missing Saturday night.
"Indeed, this was a terrorist attack," said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the investigative committee of Russia's General Prosecutor's Office, according to Interfax. Bortnikov said the bomb exploded with a force equivalent to 15 pounds (7 kilograms) of TNT.
