(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) More than a dozen people were killed when a blast ripped through a railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd in what authorities said was an attack carried out by a suicide bomber, Russia's News Agency (RIA Novosti) reported. If confirmed, the presumed attack will prove to have been the second in the city in the space of just a little over two months and will provoke deep anxiety as Russia readies to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi early next year. Russia's Investigative Committee said 16 people were killed in the blast that occurred near the metal detectors at the front entrance to Volgograd-1 train station. A total of 14 people died at the scene and two others died at hospital. A total of 44 people were injured and 37 of them have been hospitalized, a spokesman for Russia's Health Ministry said. The blast occurred just 30 minutes before a train from Moscow was due to arrive at the station. The remains of a suspected suicide bomber were discovered at the scene of the blast and will undergo DNA testing, spokesman Vladimir Markin said. Several versions of the deadly attack are being investigated. One of them is that the attack could have been carried out by a man, Markin said. Local media reports said a male finger with a pin from a grenade was found at the scene. Earlier reports said a female suicide bomber could have been behind the attack. Oksana Aslanova, a native of Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, and widow of a leader of a militant group, was named as a possible suspect, a local police source said. He added that the report has yet to be confirmed by officials. The bomb contained 10 kg of TNT and was rigged with shrapnel, Markin said. An unexploded shell was also found at the blast scene and destroyed by bomb disposal experts, he said.
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