Moscow shopping mall evacuated as fire crackers blast

HUNDREDS of customers were evacuated from an underground shopping mall next to Moscow's Kremlin yesterday, after a pack of fire crackers went off, sparking fears of an attack, officials said.

City police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said the fire crackers had hurt no one and caused no damage to the Okhotny Ryad shopping mall.

But the sound, which rang out across the adjacent Red Square and the nearby Russian Parliament building, caused panic in the Russian capital, which has seen numerous terror attacks in the past. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov rushed to the site.

The alert was quickly called off with people allowed to return to their shopping before New Year, the main winter holiday in Russia.

Agencies