UPDATES DECK, ADDS DETAILS
By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - An explosion at a shopping mall in Vladikavkaz, Russia, killed one person and injured nine others, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said on Wednesday.
The blast occurred on the upper floor of the Alania Mall in Vladikavkaz, the administrative center of North Ossetia-Alania in the northern Caucasus, a ministry statement said.
No visitors were present at the time of the explosion, and all the casualties were among employees and passers-by, it added.
The mall caught fire following the explosion, but it was quickly extinguished, the statement said.
Initially authorities blamed the blast on natural gas, but later regional Governor Sergey Menyaylo announced with a link to the Russian Defense Ministry that a Ukrainian drone attack caused the damage.
According to the official, a drone that was shot down over the shopping center exploded, leading to casualties and damage.
Menyaylo added that several southern Russian regions were attacked by Ukrainian drones today, including Chechnya, where drones hindered the landing of a plane which later crashed in Kazakhstan with some 67 people on board, of which 28 survived.