Putin: Supermarket Bombing Was a Terror Attack

At an awards ceremony for troops who fought in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday's bombing at a St. Petersburg supermarket was a terror attack, adding that another attack had been thwarted.

Shrapnel embedded in the IED (improvised explosive device) used in the attack – a common terror technique – was meant to injure and/or kill as many victims as possible.

According to Putin, Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war played a role in preventing terror attacks at home.  

"What would have happened if those thousands [of terrorists] that I have just spoken about, hundreds of them had come back to us, trained and armed," Putin reportedly told Russian news agencies.

Earlier this month, Putin thanked President Trump for a CIA tip that thwarted several terror attacks in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

In April, a suicide bomber killed 16 and injured more than 50 in a St. Petersburg's subway.