Explosive blast at Moscow restaurant kills three, injures at least 15

An improvised explosive device detonated at a restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square in central Moscow, killing at least three people and injuring at least 15 more. Russian state media said one of the dead was the bomber, but the cause of the blast was still under investigation as officials sorted through conflicting early accounts.

The explosion landed in one of the capital’s most visible districts, not on the city’s edge or near the front lines of Russia’s war. Emergency vehicles were parked near the site and police officers gathered around the area after the blast, underscoring how quickly a single attack can disrupt a prominent part of Moscow.

Russian state media and the Interior Ministry gave the death toll as three, while injury figures varied in the early hours of reporting. Some accounts put the number wounded at 15, while others raised it to at least 21. The difference reflected the uncertainty that often follows a sudden explosion in a crowded urban area, where emergency crews are still counting casualties as medics move the injured away from the scene.

The cause was not immediately known. Earlier accounts speculated that a gas cylinder or gas canister may have been involved, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin separately pointed to a likely technical malfunction. Neither explanation had been confirmed, and officials did not settle on a cause as the first reports came in.

The blast adds to a string of deadly incidents that have hit Moscow and the surrounding region in recent years, including other explosions linked to gas cylinders or gas leaks. But the location of this one, near a cafe in central Moscow, made it especially striking. Kudrinskaya Square sits in a prominent part of the Russian capital, and the combination of a high-profile setting, a reported explosive device and a shifting casualty count left the city facing a familiar security question: how exposed are crowded urban centers when an attack reaches far from the battlefield?