Rescue workers stand near a site where an explosion occurred at a market in Moscow August 21, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    MOSCOW, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed including five Chinese and one Vietnamese citizens and 55 others wounded when a homemade bomb ripped through a Moscow market Monday morning, Russia news agencies reported.

    Eight people, including two children, were killed when the explosion hit the Eurasian section of Cherkizovsky market in Sirenevy Bulvar district, northeast Moscow at 10:40 a.m. local time (0640 GMT), and the other two died at hospital.

    "According to preliminary information, five Chinese and one Vietnamese citizen were killed. The nationalities of the others who were killed have not yet been established," Svetalana Petrenko, the press secretary of the Moscow prosecutor's office, told Interfax.

    Two men, suspected of staging the explosion which also wounded 55 others, were arrested, city Prosecutor Yuri Syomin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

    "Two persons have been detained as suspects in this case. We will not disclose their names in the interests of the investigation but they have been identified," Syomin said.

    "We have serious proof that these persons carried out these crimes," he said.

    "Several minutes before the explosion, cafe clients saw two men drop a bag by a table and dash out," a Moscow police force spokesman was quoted as saying.

    The bomb contained over 1 kg of TNT explosive, Syomin told reporters at the market.

    "The blast occurred between two containers insides a trade pavilion. There was a natural gas cylinder next to the bomb, so it was in the center of the blast, too," Syomin said.

    The explosion was most likely a criminal act, but the possibility of a terrorist attack was not ruled out, Syomin added. Enditem

Market vendors remove their wares after an explosion at Cherkizovo market in Moscow August 21, 2006.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

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