Russia treats McDonald's blast as terrorism (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Russia treats McDonald's blast as terrorism
23 Mar 2007 16:04:25 GMT
Source: Reuters

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, March 23 (Reuters) - Russian prosecutors said
on Friday they were treating an explosion at a McDonald's restaurant
in central St Petersburg last month as an act of terrorism.

The explosion on the evening of Feb. 18 injured 10 people and rekindled
memories of a wave of attacks by Chechen separatists across Russia in
the 1990s.

"It has been established that the aim of the explosion in the McDonald's
cafe was to express disagreement with the authorities and the existing
regime," the prosecutor-general's office said in a statement on its Web
site.

It said the case was now being investigated as "terrorism, carried out
by a group of people".

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23733842.htm

(ITAR-TASS)

Six suspects detained in Petersburg McDonald's blast case

22.03.2007, 18.47

ST PETERSBURG, March 22 (Itar-Tass) - Police detained six suspects in
the case over the explosion in a McDonald's restaurant in the city on
February 18, a law-enforcement official told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

"All the detainees are young people, residents of Petersburg, members
of extremist youth groups. They are checked for links to persons who
were earlier arrested in hate-based crime cases," the official said.

Searches at their apartments found explosives and extremist literature,
he said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11363275