RUSSIA: At least five people were killed and 30 injured yesterday when two explosions went off in a commuter train in southern Russia, close to rebel Chechnya, writes Daniel McLaughlin Moscow
The packed early-morning train was on its way through the Caucasus mountains from Kislovodsk to Mineralnye Vody, once-popular spa towns hit hard by almost a decade of war between Kremlin troops and separatist rebels just to the south.
Interior Minister Mr Boris Gryzlov immediately blamed terrorists for an attack that he said involved two explosives detonating a few metres apart on the track beneath the train, which was taking many young students to college in another spa town, Pyatigorsk.
Mr Sergei Vardosanidze, a regional health minister, said three men and two women had been killed. Four of them were younger than 21. He said seven of the injured were in a critical condition.
The Kremlin's envoy to southern Russia, Mr Viktor Kazantsev, said police had arrested a man suspected of detonating the bombs under the train, which Russian television showed with one of its carriages derailed.
The attack came just over a month before elections for a president in Chechnya, an event hailed by the Kremlin as a key step towards establishing peace in the region.
Rebels have denounced the poll as a sham, saying Moscow will make sure current Chechen chief Mr Akhmad Kadyrov wins, regardless of the count.
Rebels have stepped up attacks in and around Chechnya since a March referendum that the Kremlin said proved Chechens wanted to remain within the Russian Federation.
Guerrilla leaders said the referendum was fixed, and mocked an offer of a Kremlin amnesty that only applied to people who had not actually taken up arms against Russian troops. According to figures released this week, more soldiers accused of crimes took advantage of the amnesty than actual rebels.
With nationwide parliamentary elections planned for December 7th, and a presidential vote set for March, the government fears an escalation of terrorist attacks on major Russian cities.
Moscow was rocked in July by an attack by two women suicide bombers on a rock concert in the capital. Fourteen people died, and officials said Chechen rebel commanders were training a battalion of "black widows" to blow themselves up around Russia.