On March 13, 1881, a group of Nihilists wielding homemade bombs assassinated Tsar Alexander II in St. Petersburg, Russia, as he rode in his armored carriage near the Winter Palace. Alexander, who had escaped injury in the first wave of the attack, stepped out of his carriage to help his injured guards. At that moment, Ignaty Grinevitsky, an ethnic Pole disgruntled over the treatment of the Polish minority in the Russian Empire, approached Alexander and dropped his bomb. The explosion blew off the Tsar's legs and mortally wounded Grinevitsky. Both men died a few hours later in what was perhaps the first suicide bombing in modern history.