(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.