First bomb was twice as large as exploded one. It was found at 10.30 p.m.

The first deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, General Alyaksandr Shchurko has informed that one explosive device was found at about 10 p.m. It was found by common citizens of Minsk, and only experts that arrived later gave evaluation to it. Despite of it, the “celebration” continued.

The head of the Interior Ministry operational investigative group for investigation of Minks blast Alyaksandr Shchurko answers questions of “KP in Belarus”:

- Please tell us when a facial composite of a suspect would be ready? It was promised on July 4.

- We have a facial composite. But new and new witnesses are appearing all the time. For instance, young people who recovered senses in hospitals. They are giving new evidence. We are to collect all witnesses together, at one table, and talk together… Not all of them can do that because of their state of health. By publishing one facial composite we can lead away the investigation in a wrong direction. It is important for us to carry out active investigative actions, and not to hope to identify a criminal by a facial composite.

- All injured are fingerprinted in hospitals. Can the criminal be among them?

- It is possible. But you understand that not all injured went to doctors. The perpetrator could be wounded, but not hospitalized.

- Are there any ideas, was it a group or one person? These are different articles of the law with different punishment.

- A criminal action has been brought up for a grave crime. It is a malicious hooliganism with the threat to people’s lives, with the use of arms and so on. We are considering other versions today as well. During the investigation of this case its nature could be determined in a different way...

- … as terrorism?

- Attempted murder is possible as well…

- Have experts from Russia arrived?

- Yes. 10 experts from Federal Security Service of Russia work with our agencies. It is very precious for us. We have no experience in investigation of such cases. A large investigation team is working.

- When the first explosive device was found actually?

- At about 10.30 p.m. Citizens picked from the ground a two litre juice pack. A criminal used the situation when many empty juice packs were left, and so masked the explosive device. The pack was opened, and elements of an explosive device were noticed. They brought it to policemen.

- And they…

- … put it in a safe place. There wasn’t a supposition it could be something serious there. It was possible that it was a false alert… And in general, recent stabilization of crime situation to some extent relaxed policemen. It is like in boxing. We got relaxed, and received a blow… The pack was neutralized, it didn’t exploded.

- And in two hours a litre juice pack exploded…

- The pack was two times smaller. We can suppose that the exploded device is identical to the found and deactivated one. So we have a sample, we have enough information for checking, a trace of a man, who supposedly filled and tried to activate the device which hasn’t exploded.

- Readers called our editorial office and said that at 1.30 a.m. one more suspicious parcel was found.

- We do not have such information.