4:3 Immediate aftermath of trolleybus explosion which left at least 14 dead
(30 Dec 2013) At least 14 people were killed and nearly 30 were injured when a bomb blast tore through a trolleybus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Monday. The explosion, said to have been the work of a suicide bomber, came a day after another suicide attack killed at least 17 at the city's main railway station. Russia's main investigative agency said the device was similar to the one used at the railway station, proving a link between the two attacks. Monday's blast ripped away much of the exterior of the trolleybus and shattered windows in nearby buildings. It virtually paralysed public transport in the city, forcing many residents to walk long distances to get to work. The latest attacks have put Volgograd on edge and highlighted the militant threat that Russia is facing as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. While insurgents may find it hard to get to the tightly guarded Olympic facilities, the latest bombings have shown they can hit civilian targets elsewhere in Russia with relative ease. Russian authorities have been slow to introduce stringent security checks on bus routes, making them the transport of choice for insurgents in the region. A few months ago authorities introduced a requirement for intercity bus passengers to produce ID when buying tickets, like rail or air passengers, but procedures have remained lax. Even the 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. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either of the two explosions, which came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games. Suicide bombings and other attacks have rocked Russia for years, but in recent years most of them have been confined to the North Caucasus region, the centre of an insurgency seeking to carve out an Islamist state. Volgograd serves as a key transport hub for southern Russia, with numerous bus routes linking it to volatile provinces in Russia's North Caucasus. The successive attacks in the city, formerly known as Stalingrad, signalled that militants may be using the transport hub as a renewed way of showing their reach outside their restive region. A suicide bus bombing in Volgograd in October killed six people. Following Sunday's explosion, the Interior Ministry ordered police to beef up patrols at railway stations and other transport facilities across Russia. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
