At least seven people have been killed in an explosion at a Moscow market, the emergency situations ministry says.

A ministry spokeswoman said the explosion on Monday may have been caused by a bomb, while eyewitnesses quoted by police said the blast was caused by an exploding gas container.
  
Two Russian news agencies said nine people had been killed, including three children, and at least 16 others injured in the blast at the market in eastern Moscow.
  
ITAR-TASS quoted an unnamed explosives expert at the scene as  saying: "It is still too early to talk about the force and cause" of the explosion, since the investigation team had not yet begun work.