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Female suicide bomber kills 15 Russian soldiers

"The moment when the bus slowed down at a crossing, the terrorist approached the bus and blew herself up."

Interfax news agency

A female suicide bomber killed at least 15 people yesterday near Chechnya when she walked up to a bus filled with Russian air force servicemen and detonated explosives strapped to her body, news reports said.

The attack, which has not yet been claimed, happened near Mozdok, the main Russian military base in North Ossetia, neighboring the separatist Muslim republic of Chechnya.

The woman approached the bus as it slowed down at a crossing before detonating the explosives she was carrying, Interfax said, quoting air force spokesman Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky.

"The moment when the bus slowed down at a crossing, the terrorist approached the bus and blew herself up," the news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

The bus served the route between the town of Mozdok and the military base 6km away.

Initial reports said 27 passengers were on board the bus, although ITAR-TASS later quoted officials as saying that there were 15 passengers -- eight servicemen and seven civilians.

Interfax separately quoted defense ministry spokesman Nikolai Deryabin as saying that 15 people were killed in the attack, according to initial reports.

It was not clear if the suicide bomber was included in the toll.

Tactics used by the Chechen guerrillas are increasingly reminiscent of the suicide attacks used by Palestinians in their standoff with Israeli forces in the Middle East.

The Chechen separatists had in the early stages of the war reverted primarily to ambushes of Russian transport columns, before switching to mine warfare, particularly in the streets of the war-ravaged capital Grozny.

The latest attack served as yet another reminder to President Vladimir Putin's administration that a March constitutional referendum aimed at introducing a peaceful way out of the three-and-a-half year war was not yet bearing fruit.

Since the referendum, which cemented Chechnya's status as a part of the Russian Federation, Putin has also proposed an amnesty to anyone involved in the Chechen conflict since the outbreak of the first war in 1993 who surrenders.

Parliament still has to approve the measure in a final reading this week, but Chechen separatist leaders have already said they will not lay down their arms.

Putin had declared an end to the current war following the March referendum, which also introduced a top pro-Moscow official, Akhmad Kadyrov, as the republic's acting president.

At a recent series of summits, the Russian leader received broad international backing from both European leaders and US President George W. Bush for his strategy in Chechnya.

But Putin's peace plan has been widely criticized by rights activists and observers, who say the amnesty will cover only a minority of active Chechen guerrillas while providing immunity for federal military and police.

The latest war between separatist rebels and federal troops in the Caucasus republic broke out in October 1999. Chechnya had enjoyed de facto independence after defeating Russian troops in the previous conflict.
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