VOLGOGRAD, December 31. /ITAR-TASS/. Death toll from the suicide bombers attacks, which took place in the southern Russian city of Volgograd Sunday and Monday, continues growing, as a forty-year-old man wounded Sunday in the explosion at the city’s railway station has died in hospital N25, a spokesperson for the Volgograd regional government said.

“Physicians worked hard to support the man’s life during the two days since the tragedy but he died without regaining consciousness,” he said.

In the meantime, the press service of the regional branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (EMERCOM) said forensic experts had confirmed the death of one more young man during Monday bombing of trolleybus N15.

Two terrorist attacks were carried out in Volgograd: on Sunday, December 29, the terrorists’ target became the city’s railway station; on Monday, December 30, a trolleybus was blown up. Updated information says the two terrorist acts took away the lives of 33 people and left about 100 more people wounded. Of that number, 60 survivors continue getting treatment at hospitals in Volgograd and Moscow where some of them were taken by EMERCOM jets.

 

Two recent terrorist attacks are interrelated

Earlier, spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin reported that a suicide bomber set off the explosive device in Volgograd’s trolleybus.

“A skeleton remained from the trolleybus. There is no roof. Moreover, the power of the explosion was too strong that had broken out windows in a five-storey building. Now we can say the explosive device was blasted by a suicide bomber whose body’s fragments were found and sent to DNA testing,” Markin said.

He added that the power of the explosion in the trolleybus was equivalent to at least 4 kg TNT. The Investigative Committee representative noted that the interrelation between the two terrorist attacks is confirmed.

“As the bomb in the railway station, the explosive device, which was used to blast the trolleybus, was full of destructive elements. As both explosive devices’ striking elements are identical this proves that there is interrelation between the two terrorist acts,” the spokesperson said, adding “probably, they were prepared in one place”.

 

Aid to victims’ families and wounded

Russia’s Labor Ministry confirmed that all affected by the attacks, as well as the victims’ families, would receive the corresponding compensations as soon as possible.

According to the spokesperson for Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a total of 65 million rubles ($1.9 million) are allocated from the region’s reserve fund. Of them, 62 million rubles are one-off payments. One million rubles will receive each victim’s family; 400,000 rubles will receive each severely injured, and 200,000 rubles are allocated for each moderately wounded.

"In addition, the order provides for a lump sum for burial to the families of deceased resident, as well as assistance in connection with the loss of property," Natalia Timakova added.

A fundraiser has also been launched in the Volgograd Region for the families of victims and injured in the terrorist attacks on December 29 and 30, local authorities reported.