Blast kills 16 at shopping centre in Russia

11 July 2005, 18:00 PM

AFP, Moscow

Sixteen people were killed yesterday in an explosion in a shopping centre in the north-western Russian city of Ukhta, the emergency situations ministry said. There was no immediate indication of the cause of the blast.

"An explosion whose cause is unknown took place at 1:58 p.m. Moscow time (0958 GMT) in a shopping centre housed in a two-storey brick building and caused 16 deaths, according to preliminary information," a spokesman for the ministry told AFP by telephone.

Ukhta, which has a population of about 100,000 is in the oil-rich Komi region of Russia.