Eight people died and over 50 were injured on Wednesday morning in a suspected terrorist blast on a bus in central Togliatti, a city on Russia`s Volga River.

A spokesman for the regional police department said an explosive device with a charge of one kilogram of TNT equivalent, with no solid encasement, had been discovered fastened to underside of the bus.

Vladimir Artyakov, the governor of the Samara Region, in which Togliatti is located, said a criminal case had been launched to investigate the explosion.

Andrei Derbenev, a spokesman for the city`s rescue service, earlier said 20 people had been hospitalized, of whom two were in a critical condition.

Several others have also have requested medical help. "Many of them were a long way from the bus at the time of the blast, but were hit by fragments. The shockwaves smashed windows on the ground and first floors of a nearby building."

Togliatti, with a population of about 700,000 people, is home to Russia`s largest automaker Avtovaz, which produces cars under the Lada brand.

Togliatti`s City Hall said the first dead body has been identified as Olga Kovalenko, 32, an employee of the City Hall legal department.

A Togliatti traffic police official said the site of the explosion would be closed to traffic for two days in connection with the investigation.

Authorities have published a list of those injured during the explosion. The most severely injured could be sent to Moscow clinics for treatment.

Detectives have found bomb parts similar to those used in a device which killed eight people in central Russia on Wednesday at the home of one of the blast`s victims, Russia`s chief investigator was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Interfax news agency also quoted the federal head of the investigations committee, Alexander Bastrykin, as saying that a suspect in the blast, which destroyed a passenger bus in the city of Togliatti, had been identified. He gave no details.
sections: Society, Region News
areas: Volga region