Bomb carried by woman kills three, injures 21 near Moscow restaurant, authorities say

A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow ​on Saturday evening, the authorities said.

MOSCOW — A homemade bomb carried by a woman killed three people and injured at least 21 in an explosion near an upscale restaurant in central Moscow ​on Saturday evening, authorities said.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the attack a “brutal terrorist act,” but did not say who was responsible.

“Yesterday, a brutal terrorist act was committed in Moscow that claimed human lives. The victims are currently in the city’s hospitals, where they are receiving all necessary care,” Sobyanin wrote on social media Sunday.

The explosion occurred just before 2000 ​local time close to an Italian restaurant located in one ⁠of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinkskaya Square, the police said.

Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee said that ​an unidentified woman had tried to get into the restaurant but was stopped by ​a security guard, the state RIA news agency reported.