Second Volgograd blast kills 15

(Vatican Radio) Russian officials say as many as 15 people have been killed and some two dozen injured in a bus explosion in the southern city of Volgograd. Monday morning’s blast comes one day after a suicide bombing at the city’s main railway station killed at least 17 others. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Russian officials say the blast is believed to have been a "terrorist act".


Local journalist and political observer Sergey Strokan said he isn't surprised that Volgograd is being targeted. "If you just recall the history of the Second World War, you’ll see that this was the place which came to the history books, as a monument to the unconquerable spirit of Soviet Russian people. And probably terrorists today were trying to show us that those symbols don't exist anymore."



The explosions come some 40 days before Russia is due to hold the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. A Chechen warlord had urged his fighters to disrupt the games. Volgograd lies near Russia’s North Caucasus, a strip of mostly Muslim provinces where militants are trying to establish an Islamic state.



Security expert and senior lecturer at the Moscow State University Mark Sleboda says the militants want to send a message. "We have seen several terrorist attacks on trains previously, as well as on metro, within Moscow. […] It is extremely disruptive to the fabric of Russian society, it creates a true atmosphere of terror, when any average citizen can be targeted who uses public transportation, which is the majority of the population."



These are not isolated incidents: on Friday a car bomb in Pyatigorsk killed three people, while in October another female suicide attacker also struck Volgograd, killing seven people. The attacks have added to pressure on President Vladimir Putin to step up security.



Listen to Stefan Bos' report: