A remote-controlled mine blast tore through the main street of a southern Russian town near breakaway Chechnya yesterday, killing at least 29 people and injuring about 150 during celebrations marking the Allied victory over the Nazis, officials said.
In a separate attack, rebels fired grenade launchers at a stadium in Chechnya's capital Grozny where Victory Day celebrations were being held, injuring four policemen. It was unclear whether the attacks were related.
The victims of the mine blast included children, veterans and musicians in a military band marching through the Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk toward the town cemetery to lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A mangled drum heaped with flowers lay next to abandoned horns and an empty boot. Streams of blood trickled down the pocked, tree-lined road.
The blast came while Russia was in a buoyant, patriotic mood thanks to parades and celebrations nationwide to mark Victory Day, one of Russia's most crucial holidays. Thousands of troops marched across Red Square past Russian President Vladimir Putin and aging World War II veterans, while triumphant music and films filled the airwaves and streets were blanketed in building-size banners.
Putin, right after giving a speech on Red Square, convened an emergency meeting in the Kremlin and appointed the head of the Federal Security Service to oversee the investigation.
"I think there are few people who doubt this was a terrorist act," he said.
At a reception later, he said: "Today is the most dear holiday for our people. ... Today's act was committed by scum for whom nothing is sacred. We have the right to view [the perpetrators] as we view Nazis, as those whose purpose is to sow terror and kill. ... But however difficult the tasks before us today, they will be solved."
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