At Least 15 Dead In Suicide Bombing At Russian Train Station
VOLGOGRAD, Russia (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A deadly suicide bombing in Russia has raised security concerns for the Winter Olympics.
As CBS 2's Andrea Grymes reported, at least 15 people were killed when the bomb detonated at a railway terminal in Volgograd, 400 miles from the Sochi site where the games will be held in just over a month.
A security camera captured the explosion that tore through the train station in southern Russia.
Government officials said it was set off by a suicide bomber, who detonated the twenty pound device at a moment the station was packed with people.
Victims were killed by flying shrapnel in a massive blast that blew out the building's doors.
One woman said she made a narrow escape, leaving the station just moments before the bomb went off.
"I saw people running; shattered glass and broken doors," she said. "I saw smoke, but I didn't understand what was going on."
As of Sunday night, nobody had claimed responsibility for the bombing. But it came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games, CBS News reported.
Umarov's call came in July. He urged his followers to use "maximum force" to stop the games from taking place.
Two months ago, a female suicide bomber targeted a bus in Volgograd, killing six people.
But the Russian Government insisted there would not be any security problems in Sochi, promising the safest Olympics in history.
The Russian government said it will deploy tens of thousands of soldiers, police officers, and security personnel to protect the games.
There was no immediate announcement from the NYPD Sunday on whether security on public transportation or city streets would be heightened as a result of the bombing.
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