ANKARA: Turkish law enforcement authorities have apprehended a Russian man suspected of detonating a car bomb in Moscow on Wednesday morning, according to Turkey’s Interior Ministry.
Russian media reported that a senior defense ministry official was among the victims of the attack.
“The terrorist who organized a bomb attack in Russia was caught in Bodrum,” Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on X (formerly Twitter).
Yerlikaya released a video of the arrest, identifying the suspected bomber as Evgeny Serebriakov, who had arrived from Moscow to Bodrum Airport at 9:40 a.m. local time.
“A letter from the Russian Interpol unit was matched,” Yerlikaya added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk reported that two people were injured in an explosion at a parking lot in northern Moscow. The explosion was caused by an explosive device placed under a vehicle.
“The injured were taken by ambulance to a medical facility,” Volk stated. “Police officers are conducting operational search measures to establish all the circumstances of the incident and to detain those involved in the crime.”
A video shared on Telegram showed an explosion ripping through an SUV shortly after a man entered the vehicle.
Russian media outlets, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, reported that GRU military intelligence officer Andrei Torgashev and his wife were injured in the explosion. Torgashev was said to be in critical condition after losing both legs in the blast. The Telegram news channel Astra reported that Torgashev is deputy chief of a Moscow region unit within the Russian military’s satellite communications center.
However, Moscow region broadcaster 360.ru later reported that Torgashev’s wife denied her husband was injured, stating someone else was in the vehicle when the bomb exploded. The Kremlin-funded RT network also claimed Torgashev denied being injured.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, announced it had launched a criminal investigation into the explosion, which Kommersant reported was being treated as attempted murder. The newspaper indicated that the case might be reclassified as a terrorist investigation.
