(PresidentialInsider.com)- In what Russian authorities now believe was a targeted terror attack, a bus exploded in the city of Voronezh Thursday leaving two women dead and another 26 passengers injured.
Initially, Russian authorities downplayed the possibility that this was a terrorist act, instead attributing the explosion to a technical problem with the bus that caused a gas leak. However, the bus company disputed this claim saying that the bus was in good working order.
But after initially investigating the blast, experts now believe that the explosion was caused by a concealed explosive device.
Dead from the blast was 22-year-old Olga Chernokova, a bride-to-be who was returning home from a shopping trip. Her injuries were so severe, including losing both of her feet in the blast, that doctors were unable to save her life. Chernokova’s father told reporters that his daughter was laid to rest in the wedding dress she never got to wear.
Fifty-five-year-old pastry chef Tatyana Ivanova was the other fatality.
A source within local law enforcement said that it is possible an explosive device may have been concealed behind a seat-heater on the bus. However, because the rupture zone was visible, an explosive expert believes it is equally possible that the bomb was simply placed on the floor and activated remotely.
Currently the Russian Anti-Terror Committee is heading up an investigation into the explosion. It reported last week that all options are under consideration as its team continues to analyze shrapnel and bomb fragments from the scene.
The case is being personally overseen by Russia’s most senior criminal investigator Alexander Bastrykin, who is head of the Investigative Committee and a former university classmate of Vladimir Putin.
The immediate aftermath of the explosion was captured by an area CCTV camera which showed passengers rushing from the mangled bus which had just made a stop in the city center of Voronezh.
A passing vehicle’s dashcam caught the moment of the blast as it ripped through the side of the bus.
It is unclear at this time who may be responsible for the bombing.
