Suicide Bomber Kills 16 at Russian Train Station

29 Dec, 2013

A suicide attacker set off a bomb in the entrance hall of a Russian train station on Sunday, investigators said, killing at least 16 people in the second deadly attack within three days as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics.

Authorities said the attacker detonated a shrapnel-filled bomb in front of a metal detector just inside the main entrance of the station in Volgograd, a busy hub north of the violence-plagued North Caucasus region on Russia’s southern fringe.

Islamist militants in the North Caucasus have carried out a long string of attacks since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. They now confront him with his biggest security challenge, threatening to disrupt the Olympics that start in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 40 days.

Footage shown on TV captured the moment of the blast, as a massive orange fireball filled the hall of the stately, colonnaded station and clouds of grey smoke poured out of shattered windows.

The station – a Stalinesque architectural monument with a clocktower and spire topped by a Soviet-style star – was busier than usual, with people travelling home for the New Year, one of the main holidays in Russia.

The federal Investigative Committee and other officials initially said a female suicide bomber had blown herself up after a police officer started to approach her near the metal detector because she looked suspicious.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin later said a man could have set off the blast, Russian news agencies reported.

Markin said 16 people were killed in the attack, including two who died in hospital. A regional government official also put the toll at 16 and said that did not include the attacker.

This latest attack could add to concerns about the government’s ability to safeguard the Sochi Olympics, which open on February 7. Putin has staked much of his prestige on staging safe and successful Games, a chance to show how far Russia has come since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Reuters

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