IN BRIEF : SOVIET UNION : Deaths, Injuries Told in ’54 Urals A-Blast

The deliberate detonation of an atomic bomb during a 1954 military exercise in the Ural Mountains killed and injured large numbers of servicemen, a report in Izvestia said. The government daily published the account of an officer who took part in the exercise, but it gave no exact casualty toll. He said many survivors suffered long-term effects of exposure to radiation. The use of the bomb to test troops’ battle readiness was first disclosed last month by the army daily Krasnaya Zvezda. That account had said there were no injuries.