A suicide car bomber hit the central market of a major city in Russia’s North Caucasus yesterday, killing at least 15 and wounding more than 130 people in one of the worst terror attacks in the region in years, officials said.
The attacker detonated his explosives as he drove by the main entrance to the Vladikavkaz market, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
At least 15 people, including the suicide bomber, were killed and 133 were wounded in the explosion, said Alexander Pogorely of the Emergency Situations Ministry’s branch in southern Russia. He said 87 of the injured were hospitalized, many in grave condition.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Russian television stations showed a shrapnel-littered square in front of the market, with bloodstains on the pavement and rows of vehicles scarred by the blast.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent his regional envoy to Vladikavkaz to help coordinate efforts to help the victims.
No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was the deadliest such attack in the region since a double suicide bombing killed 12, mostly police officers, in Dagestan in April.
The market and its surrounding blocks has been the target of several bomb attacks over the past dozen years, in which scores of people have died.
“The crimes like the one that was committed in the North Caucasus today are aimed at sowing enmity between our citizens,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks during a meeting met with Russia’s top Islamic cleric. “We mustn’t allow this.”
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