Female suicide bomber kills at least 15
A female suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying air force personnel today near Russia’s border with Chechnya, killing at least 15 people and injuring many more.
The woman approached the vehicle wearing a doctor’s white coat as it waited at a railway crossing near Mozdok in the North Ossetia region. Then she detonated her explosives.
An Interior Ministry official said six people were killed at the scene and that nine others had died later in hospital.
He said there were more than 40 people on the bus – an air crew and maintenance workers from the nearby Prokhladny air base – and that all of them were wounded, many seriously.
It was not immediately clear if the bomber was included in the death toll.
Mozdok is the main headquarters for Russian forces who have been fighting rebels in Chechnya for most of the past decade.
Fierce fighting and rebel attacks have persisted despite efforts by the Kremlin and the Moscow-backed government in Chechnya to bring stability.
Two suicide bombings inside Chechnya last month killed at least 78 people, and there are frequent attacks on buses and other military vehicles in the region.
There are rules in place barring military buses from picking up passengers for fear of terrorist attacks, the Interior Ministry official said.
The woman approached the bus as it was stopped at the crossing and was outside the vehicle when the explosion occurred.
