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Terrorist attacks in Volgograd

Patriarch Kirill calls on Russians to pool efforts in fight against terrorism

MOSCOW, December 29, 22:55 /ITAR-TASS/. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill has offered his condolences to the families of people killed in a terrorist attack in Russia’s southern city of Volgograd and called on Russians to pool their efforts to fight against terrorism.

“I am praying for the Christians killed in this act of terror and I ask God to be merciful to those who were wounded and to those who lost their relatives and to give them courage,” the patriarch said in a message to Metropolitan of Volgograd Gherman.

Patriarch Kirill called on all clergymen to spare no effort to offer support to people hurt in this terrorist act, since “they need help and consolation from the Church.” “Let all non-indifferent people be united by sincere care for and assistance to those who were affected by this tragedy in their resolute struggle against the evil of terrorism,” he stressed.

“Terrorists who sow death and maim belong to different nations, they live in different countries and regions but they share the same ideology of hatred. I am confident that the Church, the state and civic institutions are called to pool their efforts to do their best to uproot this destructive ideology from our society,” the patriarch said in his message to governor of the Volgograd region Sergei Bozhenov.

Remembrance services will be chanted at all Orthodox churches in the Volgograd region.

A female suicide bomber set off an explosive device at Volgograd’s central railway station at 12:45 Moscow time on Sunday. According to the latest reports, as many as 16 people were killed in the blast, 43 sought medical assistance. The Volgograd regional authorities declared a three-day mourning /from January 1 through January 3/ over the victims of the terrorist attack.

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