Shaken eyewitnesses have recounted the invasion of Moscow's Preobrazhenskaya Square by a 500-strong rat pack, the Moskovsky Komsomolets reports.

The rats simply "appeared" in a swarm of rodents so dense that parts of the square were "literally swarming" with the rampaging animals, which attacked pedestrians and attempted to mug a young woman.

Locals were obliged to intervene when one rat jumped into her bag of groceries and another began an assault on her leg. Muscovites successfully beat off the spearhead, which was backed by numerous murine comrades ready to follow suit.

The rats had been living in the basement of a former grocery store close to the square. Although experts reckon rats normally move house at night, demolition work in this case prompted their sudden broad-daylight exodus. ®

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