An explosion outside the National Hotel in downtown Moscow on 9 December killed six people and injured at least 13 others. Police did not confirm initial reports that the explosion was caused by one or two female suicide bombers, although Sergei Tsoi, a spokesman for Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, was quoted as saying, \"We can say with certainty that this was a terrorist act.\" Police used a robot to neutralize a second explosive found in a suitcase at the scene. The agency further reported that the bomb had been packed with nails and metal fragments to increase its devastation. Interfax cited an unidentified Federal Security Service (FSB) source as saying that a \"suspicious woman\" entered the hotel shortly before the blast and asked how to find the State Duma building. \"This terrorist act was linked to the [7 December] elections to the State Duma,\" Tsoi said, without elaborating. (ITAR-TASS)