Two people are thought to have been killed when a bomb they were carrying went off early Friday in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria were planning to target a funeral procession, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said.The blast occurred at 3:20 a.m. just outside the entrance to a cemetery outside a mosque in the village of Dugulubgei in the republicÂ’s north, RussiaÂ’s Investigative Committee said in a statement. Fragments of the bodies of two unidentified people, believed to have been blown up by their own bomb, were found at the scene. No one else was hurt in the incident.
“The attackers planned to detonate their homemade bomb on the route of a funeral procession,” NAK said in a statement, pointing out that the blast occurred as Muslims celebrated Eid al-Adha, known in Russia by its Turkish name Kurban Bayram, this week.
The statement said, “Hiding behind religious and ideological slogans, the criminals intended to sow the seeds of death among a significant number of people, including civilians."
NAK said the blast shattered the windows of the mosque and destroyed its roof, as well as damaging nearby buildings. The bomb contained around 10 kg of TNT, police said, as well as shrapnel that could have severely wounded people within a 300-meter radius.
Investigators also found a large number of arms at the scene, including shells, grenades, two pistols and a Kalashnikov rifle that went missing after an attack on police in the republicÂ’s north in July 2008, police said.