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Moscow blast kills bomb expert


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Shock and fear in Moscow. CNN's Jill Dougherty reports. (July 6)
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A Russian bomb specialist has been killed while trying to defuse an explosive outside a central Moscow cafe in what officials believe was an attempted terrorist attack.

The Interfax news agency said the 30-year-old expert was the same man called to a Moscow rock concert on Saturday when two suicide bombers killed 14 people.

Russian police say a woman -- believed to be in her 20s -- tried to smuggle a bag containing the bomb into the cafe on Tverskaya Street late Wednesday.

Guards at the cafe became suspicious and denied the woman entry after she began behaving suspiciously.

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said the woman apparently became nervous and began threatening the officers, saying "I'm going to blow this place up."

The security officers confiscated her bag, took it to a nearby area, and covered it with flak jackets until members of Russia's Federal Security Service arrived to dispose of it.

Efforts to detonate the bomb using robots and water cannons were unsuccessful. The demolition expert was killed when he approached the device in a special protective suit and the bomb went off.

Police said the device had the explosive force of 400 grams of TNT.

Wednesday's suspected bomber, who is now in police custody, is described as being non-Russian.

Russian prosecutors labeled the incident as another attempt at terrorism. No one has claimed responsibility for the act.

Wednesday's attempted attack was similar to Saturday's double suicide. In both cases, the bombers or potential bombers were female.

"The way it was carried out ... all the earmarks ... seem to be similar. That is the concern," CNN's Dougherty said.

Russian police and security officials said they have linked one of the suicide bombers to rebels in Chechnya.

-- CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report


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