An explosive device went off near an apartment block in western Moscow yesterday, injuring at least one woman, but police ruled out an act of terror. The explosive device, hidden in a flower bed next to the 17-storey block, shattered windows in several nearby buildings and injured a woman with shards of glass as she was passing by.

Police said the intended target was a businessman from a communal services company who was also nearby at that moment. “It was probably an attempt to kill this person,” said a Moscow police spokeswoman.

Russia is bracing itself for attacks by Chechen separatists after a series of violent incidents in August and September, including the seizure of a school in the south of the country, the bombing of two airliners and a suicide bombing in Moscow. Organised crime is also rife and contract killings are common, often blamed on business disputes that have spilled over into gang warfare.