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Ukraine’s police says Sunday bomb attack in Kharkov related to previous blasts — OSCE

"According to police, the device was similar to one that exploded at the Moskovsky District Courthouse in Kharkov," the OSCE report said

VIENNA, February 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s police said the Sunday bomb attack in Kharkov that killed two and injured nine people was related to previous blasts in the city, the Special Monitoring Mission /SMM/ to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe /OSCE/ said in its spot report on Sunday.

"According to police, the device was similar to one that exploded at the Moskovsky District Courthouse in Kharkov (on January 19 - TASS)," the report said.

The SMM said the police said the device "consisted of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) and shrapnel concealed in a plastic bag and was detonated remotely."

The OSCE monitors said they were monitoring a march of pro-Maidan activists when they heard a blast and "felt shockwaves from their position 100m away." Five minutes later, they arrived at the scene and "saw two dead individuals covered with Ukrainian flags and casualties being attended to."

Earlier on Sunday, an explosive device went off during a march in the east Ukrainian city of Kharkov. The blast killed two and injured nine people. A criminal case was opened on terrorism charges. Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Alexander Turchinov said heightened terrorist threat regime had been imposed in Kharkov and an anti-terrorist operation had been launched following the blast. He said four suspected organizers of the blast had been detained and weapons had been seized from them, including a grenade launcher.

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