Seven Chinese citizens were among the wounded in a blast at a crowded market in Moscow, but no Chinese is dead, the country's embassy in Russia confirmed late Tuesday.

The AP news service earlier quoted Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika as saying that five of those killed in the blast were Chinese and one from Vietnam.

Wang Zhen, press counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, said the Russian Foreign Ministry had told the embassy that there were no Chinese fatalities. Of the seven wounded, one was in a critical condition and another seriously injured, Wang said.

No other details of the seven were available last night.

The bomb, equivalent to 1.5 kilograms of TNT, ripped through Cherkizovsky market in northeast Moscow on Monday morning, killing 10 and injuring more than 50 others. The victims were mostly stallholders and shoppers.

Witnesses said they had seen three men of "Slavic appearance" behaving suspiciously before the explosion. The men had allegedly abandoned a bag at a cafe inside the market before running off.

Police have arrested two suspects and detained one in connection with the explosion, which prosecutors said was caused by a homemade device.

The Moscow city government will pay compensation to victims, according to Moscow City Duma Speaker Vladimir Platonov.

"The families of the dead will be paid 100,000 roubles (US$3,740), and those injured will receive 50,000 roubles (US$1,900)," he said.

Local prosecutors initially tied the blast to a dispute between criminal gangs vying for control of the Cherkizovsky market, but later said the blast was being investigated as a possible racist attack targeting the primarily non-Russian traders.

Moscow's top prosecutor Yury Syomin said Tuesday ethnic hatred was considered as the most likely motive behind the blast.

He said belief that the attack was motivated by hatred for ethnic minorities "is one of the theories and now is the dominant one."

(China Daily August 23, 2006)