MOSCOW, Aug 21: A bomb thought to be linked to organised crime tore through a crowded Moscow market on Monday, killing 10 people and sending rubble down on morning shoppers.

Russian television said 35 people remained in hospital hours after the blast at part of the popular Cherkizovsky market where Asian goods were on sale. Six were in serious condition.

Interfax news agency quoted Svetlana Petrenko, press officer for Moscow prosecutor’s office, as saying the dead included five Chinese nationals and one Vietnamese.

Prosecutors said the attack was probably linked to a dispute between competing commercial groups, though terrorism could not be ruled out.

Moscow’s chief prosecutor said the blast was caused by a homemade bomb of a force equivalent to up to 1.2kgs of TNT explosive.

Syomin said the bomb may also have caused a nearby gas canister to explode. —Reuters