AT LEAST 16 people were killed yesterday and more than 100 injured when a car bomb ripped through a market in the relatively quiet southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, in what appears to be the latest suicide strike by Islamist militants.
Police said the bomber drove into the crowded marketplace at 11.20am local time, then blew himself up. The bomb hidden in the boot contained the equivalent of 40kg (88lbs) of TNT, officials added.
Investigators said the suicide bomber drove a Volga saloon which he bought on Wednesday in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.
Officials said 114 people were injured, with 108 treated in hospital. The death toll rose to 16 when an 18-month-old boy died in intensive care. His three-year-old sister was critically wounded, the health ministry said.
Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, condemned the attack as “monstrous”. Prime minister Vladimir Putin said the attack was designed to “sow enmity between our citizens”. He called on Russia’s substantial Muslim population to make a “decisive contribution” in the fight against extremism.
Russia is fighting a rampant Islamist insurgency across the Muslim-dominated North Caucasus. Bomb attacks and shoot-outs take place daily, with Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya the epicentre of the violence.
But the republic of North Ossetia and its historic capital, Vladikavkaz, have been relatively immune. Its inhabitants are predominantly orthodox Russians, lending a sectarian dimension to the bombing.
It was the most serious attack in North Ossetia since the Beslan school siege in 2004, in which 331 people died, most of them children.
Schoolchildren in the republic were sent home yesterday. Security was also bolstered in Moscow, with traffic police instructed to look out for vehicles with North Caucasus plates.
Experts said the attack might have been a response to the killings over the summer of several rebel commanders by security forces.
The choice of North Ossetia, and the timing of the attack, might reflect infighting within the insurgency.
Rebel leader Doku Umarov stepped down in August and was replaced by Aslanbek Vadalov, a veteran Chechen field commander. Mr Umarov has now ousted Mr Vadalov again as head of the self-styled emirate. – ( Guardianservice)