North Ossetia bus stop bomber kills 12

[gruts]

North Ossetia bus stop bomber kills 12

Russian police believe market explosion in Vladikavkaz was carried out by female terrorist

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/07/north-ossetia-bus-bomb

Haroon Siddique and agencies
guardian.co.uk
Friday November 7 2008 10.59 GMT

An explosion at a bus stop in the capital of Russia's North Ossetia region that killed 12 people may have been caused by a female suicide bomber, police said today.

Yesterday's explosion, which injured 28 people - including one child - occurred close to the central market in Vladikavkaz.

"One of the theories is that this could have been a female suicide bomber," Larisa Khabitsova, the chairwoman of North Ossetia's parliament told the New York Times. "It is absolutely clear that this was a terrorist attack."

Television pictures showed a mangled white minibus and what appeared to be charred human remains lying beside it. A murder and terrorism investigation has been launched.

North Ossetia is in Russia's turbulent North Caucasus region, which has experienced years of violence, much of it blamed on Islamist militants.

The province includes the town of Beslan, the scene of a 2004 school siege in which more than 300 people - half of them children - were killed. But yesterday's explosion was the deadliest in years.

North Ossetia neighbours the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, but there was no immediate evidence of a link with the recent war between Russia and Georgia.