Moscow - The Russian judiciary has started a terrorism
enquiry after a serious bomb explosion on a bus which killed eight
people and injured more than 50 in the Russian city of Togliatti on
the Volga River on Wednesday.
'Our main suspicion is moving towards terrorism,' the governor of
the Samara region, Vladimir Artyakov, was quoted as saying by the
Interfax news agency.
Security experts has expressed suspicions that the attack was an
attempt by terrorists to destabilize the country before the December
2 parliamentary elections.
'These forces are using the election campaign for their own
purposes,' Russian Senator Nikolai Tulayev, head of the parliamentary
committee for domestic security, told radio broadcaster Echo Moskvy.
Investigators however have not completely excluded the possibility
of an unintentional detonation of explosions.
Russia has for years battled Chechen militants who have carried
out kidnappings and bombings before, but large amounts of high
explosives are in the possession of unauthorized people in the
country, and hand grenades or other explosives have unintentionally
exploded in the past while being transported on buses or trains.
The authorities also say they are investigating the illegal
possession of explosives.
The explosion occurred in the centre of the industrial city about
800 kilometres south-east of Moscow as the bus was stopped at a
traffic light. On the bus were many students and lecturers on their
way to university at the time of the explosion.
The force of the explosion, which had the power of several hand
grenades, also injured a number of pedestrians on the street.
About 42 of those injured including a number of children were
treated in hospitals.
Following the explosion, an atmosphere of fear prevailed in
Togliatti, named after Italian communist Palmiro Togliatti (1893-
1964). Authorities denied rumours that other bombs had been
detonated, as parents rushed their children from schools and
kindergartens, according to reports.
The domestic security agency FSB hung a ban on information on the
circumstances of the attack, and journalists complained of being
arrested as they attempted to gather information near the site of the
explosion.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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