2nd deadly bombing In Russia

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.