Moscow mayor calls a deadly bomb attack on a restaurant a 'terrorist act'

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin called on Sunday a bomb attack on a restaurant in the capital the day before a “brutal terrorist act,” but did not say who was responsible.

The blast on Saturday evening at the Balzi Rossi, an upscale Italian establishment in central Moscow, killed three people, including the woman bomber, Russian state media said, citing local officials.

“Yesterday, a brutal terrorist act was committed in Moscow that claimed human lives. The victims are currently in the city’s hospitals, where they are receiving all necessary care,” Sobyanin wrote on social media Sunday.

At least 21 people were wounded when the explosive device detonated at the restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said late on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.

The woman attempted to smuggle the bomb into the establishment, but the security guard refused to let her in before the bomb exploded, reported Ria Novosti. The Moscow Investigative Committee said on Saturday evening the attack was still being investigated.

As of early afternoon on Sunday, there was no further information from Russian authorities, and no one had publicly claimed responsibility.

According to Ria Novosti, the restaurant was closed for a private function on Saturday evening.

Footage released by Russian state media showed heavily armed law-enforcement officers, several ambulances and other emergency vehicles at the site.