Nando Times

Russian explosion kills 2

The Associated Press

MOSCOW (October 6, 2000 3:01 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A series of explosions killed two people and injured 22 others Friday in the southern Russian region of STAVROPOL.

The first two explosions went off within minutes of each other at a train station in the city of Pyatigorsk, killing a woman and injuring three other people, said Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman with the Emergency Situations Ministry.

Shortly afterward, two more explosions occurred in the city of Nevinnomyssk, killing one person and injuring 19, officials said. The first blast ripped through a bus stop across from the city administration building and the second detonated at a market, Beltsov said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions and there was no claim of responsibility. Police detained two suspects in Pyatigorsk and two in Nevinnomyssk, said Marat Syrtlanov, deputy chief of information for the Russian Interior Ministry.

Stavropol borders Russia's breakaway Chechnya region, where Russian forces are battling Islamic rebels. Police have blamed the rebels for several bombings of markets and apartment buildings that have killed scores of people in the past year.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), October 06, 2000