— A suicide
bomber killed 14 people aboard an electric bus in
the southern Russian city of Volgograd during the
Monday morning rush hour, and authorities believe
it was the work of the same group that set off a
bomb at the railway station a day earlier.
Together more than 30 people were killed in the
explosions, putting the city of one million on edge
and highlighting the terrorist threat Russia is
facing as it prepares to host February's Winter
Games in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin's pet
project. While terrorists may find it hard to get to
the tightly guarded Olympic facilities, the
bombings have shown they can hit civilian targets
elsewhere in Russia with shocking ease.
Volgograd, located about 650 kilometers (400
miles) northeast of Sochi, serves as a key transport
hub for southern Russia, with numerous bus routes
linking it to volatile provinces in Russia's North
Caucasus, where insurgents have been seeking an
Islamic state.
Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for Russia's main
investigative agency, said Monday's explosion
involved a bomb similar to the one used in
Sunday's attack at the city's main railway station.
"That confirms the investigators' version that the
two terror attacks were linked," Markin said in a
statement. "They could have been prepared in one
place."
Markin said a suicide attacker was responsible for
the bus explosion, reversing an earlier official
statement that the blast was caused by a bomb left
in the vehicle's passenger area. At least 14 people
were killed and nearly 30 were wounded, according
to public health officials.
Officials did not name names and no one has
claimed responsibility for either bombing, but they
came several months after Chechen rebel leader
Doku Umarov threatened new attacks against
civilian targets in Russia, including the Olympics in
Sochi.
Suicide bombings and other terror attacks have
rocked Russia for years, but most recently have
been confined to the North Caucasus region. The
successive attacks in Volgograd signaled that
militants may be using the transportation hub as a
renewed way of showing their reach outside their
restive region.
The city, formerly called Stalingrad, also serves as
an important symbol of Russian pride because of a
historic World War II battle in which the Soviets
turned the tide against the Nazis.
"Volgograd, a symbol of Russia's suffering and
victory in World War II, has been singled out by the
terrorist leaders precisely because of its status in
people's minds," Dmitry Trenin, the head of the
Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office, said in a
commentary posted on the organization's website.
Monday's explosion ripped away much of the bus's
exterior and shattered windows in nearby
buildings. It virtually paralyzed public transport in
the city, forcing many residents to walk long
distances to get to work.
Russian authorities have been slow to introduce
stringent security checks on bus routes, making
them the transport of choice for terrorists in the
region. A few months ago authorities introduced a
requirement for intercity bus passengers to
produce identification when buying tickets, like rail
or air passengers, but procedures have remained
lax and some of the routes aren't controlled.
Even tight railway security is sometimes not
enough. In Sunday's suicide bombing the attacker
detonated in the crowd in front of the station's
metal detectors.
A suicide bus bombing in Volgograd in October
killed six people. On Friday, three people were
killed when an explosives-rigged car blew up in the
city of Pyatigorsk, the center of a federal
administrative district created to oversee Kremlin
efforts to stabilize the North Caucasus region.
In Sunday's railroad station blast, the bomber
detonated explosives just beyond the station's
main entrance when a police sergeant became
suspicious and rushed forward, officials said. The
officer was killed by the blast, and several other
policemen were among some 40 people wounded.
The Interior Ministry ordered police to beef up
patrols at railway stations and other transport
facilities across Russia. Putin on Monday
summoned the chief of the main KGB successor
agency and the interior minister to discuss the
situation, and sent the former to Volgograd to
oversee the probe.
Russia in past years has seen a series of terror
attacks on buses, trains and airplanes, some
carried out by suicide bombers.
Twin bombings on the Moscow subway in March
2010 by female suicide bombers killed 40 people
and wounded more than 120. In January 2011, a
male suicide bomber struck Moscow's Domodedovo
Airport, killing 37 people and injuring more than
180.
Umarov, who had claimed responsibility for the
2010 and 2011 bombings, ordered a halt to attacks
on civilian targets during the mass street protests
against Putin in the winter of 2011-12. He reversed
that order in July, urging his men to "do their
utmost to derail" the Sochi Olympics, which he
described as "satanic dances on the bones of our
ancestors."
The International Olympics Committee expressed
its condolences over Sunday's bombing in
Volgograd, but said it was confident of Russia's
ability to protect the Games.
Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander
Zhukov said Monday there was no need to take any
extra steps to secure Sochi in the wake of the
Volgograd bombings, as "everything necessary
already has been done."
Russian authorities have introduced some of the
most extensive identity checks and sweeping
security measures ever seen at an international
sports event.
Anyone wanting to attend the games that open on
Feb. 7 will have to buy a ticket online from the
organizers and obtain a "spectator pass" for
access. Doing so will require providing passport
details and contacts that will allow the authorities
to screen all visitors and check their identities upon
arrival.
The security zone created around Sochi stretches
approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) along the
Black Sea coast and up to 40 kilometers (25 miles)
inland. Russian forces include special troops to
patrol the forested mountains flanking the resort,
drones to keep constant watch over Olympic
facilities and speed boats to patrol the coast.
The security plan includes a ban on cars from
outside the zone from a month before the games
begin until a month after they end.
Sent From David Aniemeka
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