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Blast at Odessa’s security service office classified as terrorist attack

Ukrainian police, SBU officers and bomb disposal experts are working at the site now

© Arhip vereshagin/TASS

KIEV, September 27. /TASS/. The explosion that occurred on Sunday morning near an office of Ukraine's Security Council in the southern city of Odessa has been classified as a terrorist attack, a spokesman for the Odessa region department of the interior ministry said on Sunday.

"Criminal case was opened on charges of terrorist attack [article 258, part 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code]," the spokesman said. These charges carry a punishment of a prison term from seven to twelve years in prison.

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Media: blast heard near state security building in Odessa

The explosion took place at about 4:45 a.m. local time outside the SBU building in Yevreyskaya street.

"According to preliminary assessment, the explosion was one of the most powerful among all blasts that happened in Odessa over the past year. Its power is preliminarily estimated at more than one kilogramme of TNT equivalent," Odessa’s Timer online news portal said on Sunday.

A TASS correspondent reported from the scene that an explosive device had been planted near the building’s side entrance which was generally not used. The explosion was so powerful that it shattered windows in residential houses and office buildings two-three blocks away from the blast site. Cars parked near the building were also damaged.

Ukrainian police, SBU officers and bomb disposal experts are working at the site now.

No one has been killed or injured, according to media reports.

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