Terrorist attack
May 27, 2010
At least seven people have been killed and dozens more critically injured in a bomb attack in the southern Russian of Stavropol. The blast struck a Chechen cultural center late Wednesday.
"Seven people are dead," a Stavropol Rescue Service official said. "Thirty three remain hospitalized."
The bomb was reportedly packed with steel pellets hidden in a juice carton. Officials said that many of those receiving treatment were in a critical condition.
Yekaterina Denilova, who works with the regional investigative committee, told news agency AFP that around 70 people have already been questioned in connection with the attack, for which no groups have so far claimed responsibility.
Stavropol is located on the northern rim of the Caucasus, in areas Russia has been battling a Muslim insurgency and terror attacks in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. However the city has rarely seen the sort of violence experience in other areas in the region.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called the Caucasus unrest the worst domestic problem facing the country.
dfm/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Rob Turner