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Kharkiv explosion classified as terrorist act

Previous reports by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said thirteen people had been hurt in the explosion

Archive EPA/SERGEI KOZLOV

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© EPA/SERGEI KOZLOV

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Twelve hurt in explosion outside court in Kharkiv, Ukrainian official says

KHARKIV, January 19 /TASS/. The Monday explosion outside the Moskovsky court in Kharkiv has been classified as a terrorist act, law enforcers reported from the scene.

They did not clarify what kind of an explosive device had gone off.

Previous reports by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said thirteen people had been hurt in the explosion. Six of them received serious injuries.

The Interior Ministry noted that a trial over a Ukraine political activist was under way in the court building at the time of the blast.

“He was detained during Ukraine’s presidential elections at a polling station (on October 26). The explosion roared when the people started leaving the courtroom after the trial,” the Ukraine Interior Ministry said adding that a grenade had exploded in the room according to preliminary reports.

Policemen, the prosecutor office staff and Ukraine’s Security Service experts are working at the scene.

A bomb went off in a city cafe in Kharkiv in November last year injuring 13 people. Criminal proceedings were initiated on terrorism charges. Another explosion occurred in a furniture shop in Kharkov late in December last year. Later, it was also classified as a terrorist act.

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