At least six die in Chechen bus blast
A bus was blown up by a mine in the Chechen capital Grozny today, killing at least six people and wounding 11.
The bus was torn apart by a remote-controlled land mine that was hidden in a pile of trash on the side of the road, said Yuri Miroshnichenko of the Emergency Situations Ministry. He said six people were killed and 11 were wounded.
However, a Chechen Justice Ministry official said seven people had died and eight were in hospital, including three in grave condition.
The official said the bus had come from Khankala, the Russian military’s main base in Chechnya. It was carrying construction workers from the base and other passengers it had picked up on the way to Grozny.
“The bus was carrying civilians – construction workers,” the region’s Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, said. “This is the work of bandits - monsters.”
Chechen rebels frequently target Russian forces with land mines, and civilian vehicles are occasionally hit as well.
Russian troops have been bogged down in Chechnya since 1999 when they returned after a period of de facto independence for the region that followed a 1994-96 war between separatists and Russian forces.
The troops returned after rebel raids on a neighbouring Russian region and after apartment house bombings blamed on Chechens killed more than 300 people in Russian cities.
