6 hurt in McDonald’s blast in Russia

updated 3:22 p.m. ET Feb. 18, 2007

MOSCOW - An explosion hit a McDonald's restaurant in St. Petersburg on Sunday, injuring at least six people, partially destroying a ceiling and blowing out windows, a Russian emergency official said.

Irina Andriyanov, a spokeswoman for the federal Emergency Situations Ministry, told The Associated Press that the blast occurred at around 8:30 p.m. local time, at a restaurant outlet in the city center. Preliminary reports said six people were wounded, including four who were hospitalized, she said.

The St. Petersburg news Web site www.fontanka.ru said a German citizen was among the injured.

There was no immediate indication of whether the explosion was a terrorist or criminal act, or whether it was accidental.

McDonald's restaurants in Russia have been targets of criminal gang disputes in the past. In 2002, a car bombing at a McDonald's restaurant in Moscow killed one person and injured eight.

In 1998, a small bomb exploded at an unfinished McDonald's restaurant in another part of St. Petersburg. The restaurant's construction is opposed by residents of buildings that were razed to make way for it.

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