Blasts hit ministry in Moldova’s Transnistria, near Ukraine

Officials say unknown assailants attacked the state security ministry in Tiraspol using grenade launchers.

 Officials in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria have reported several explosions at the state security ministry following what it called a grenade-launcher attack.

No injuries were immediately reported from Monday’s assault.

In a statement on Facebook, the interior ministry of Transnistria said the attack took place in the city of Tiraspol at 6pm (15:00 GMT) on a public holiday for the Orthodox Easter.

It said some of the building’s windows were broken and that “smoke is billowing out of” the structure.

Preliminary information shows the attackers had used a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, it added.

The Pervy Pridnestrovsky television channel cited witnesses as saying they had heard several blasts. De-miners, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene.

The TVS television showed a picture of a grenade launcher abandoned at the scene.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.

Meanwhile, Moldovan President Maia Sandu is convening a meeting of the country’s Supreme Security Council over the incidents, his office said in a statement

“The Supreme Security Council will meet from 1300 (1000 GMT) at the Presidency. After the meeting, at 1500, President Maia Sandu will hold a press briefing”, the statement said.

Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases about 1,500 soldiers there, calling them peacekeepers, but concerns are high that those forces could be used to invade Ukraine from the west.

Moldova said it was “concerned” about Monday’s attack.

Source: Blasts hit ministry in Moldova’s Transnistria, near Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera