In one of the deadliest attacks in the last six months, a suicide car bomb exploded in a market in Vladikavkaz, which is in North Ossetia (located in the unstable region of the Russian Caucasus Mountains). The explosion killed at least 16 people and injured another hundred on Thursday, September 9th at 07H20 GMT.
According to an AFP report, the dead and wounded were evacuated on trucks, bodies slashed amid pools of blood and a large amount of debris, and several vehicles were reduced to wreckage. The explosion was the equivalent of 30 to 40 kgs. of TNT (about 90 lbs. or so) according to Russian investigative prosecutors.
RIA Novosti reported that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev condemned the act as" barbaric" and vowed to do everything to catch these monsters, "the bastards" who committed this terrorist act.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin condemned any act aimed at "sowing hatred among our citizens. Russia's strongman added "those who did this are obviously people with no soul and no heart," as quoted by Interfax.
Since the fall of the USSR, the North Caucasus has been in the grip of a bloody Islamist insurgency that finds its origin in the two wars that have ravaged Chechnya. Attacks occur on a daily basis and are usually against representatives of authorities and law enforcement.
Comments