Ten people injured in Saint Petersburg supermarket bombing

Moscow : A homemade bomb blast at a supermarket in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg injured ten people, according to officials.

"According to preliminary information, an explosion of an unidentified object occurred in a store," an Investigative Committee spokeswoman said in a statement.

The blast was caused by a "homemade explosive device with the power equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT filled with lethal fragments," she said.

"The investigation is looking at all possible causes of what happened," she said, adding that a probe for attempted murder had been launched.

"Ten people have been hospitalised, their lives are not in danger," said the head of Saint Petersburg investigative unit, Interfax news agency reported.

An AFP correspondent at the scene observed first responders and police as well as a car belonging the Federal Security Service, which investigates acts of terror.

Police said the blast occurred in a supermarket northeast of the city centre, with sources telling Russian agencies that the explosive device had been placed in a storage locker.

"About 6:30 pm there was the sound of a blast. As a result, several people have been injured," the Saint Petersburg police said, giving the incident's location.

"There is no fire. All shoppers have been evacuated," an emergencies ministry representative told Interfax.

One witness told TASS news agency that he heard the blast and saw smoke in the shop, but that there were not a lot of customers at the time, with some victims being taken away by ambulances.