Fatal Blasts in Russia Raise Fears That Chechen Violence Is Spreading

Seven people died in two separate bomb blasts in southern Russia near Chechnya on Sunday, raising fears that Chechen separatists were extending their guerrilla war beyond the rebel province.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted local officials as saying five people had been killed and 17 wounded in a blast at the central market in Vladikavkaz, scene of a devastating explosion in March 1999 that killed more than 50 people and injured more than 150.

NTV television said two people had died at the scene of the blast, and three more died later at the hospital.

Russian media also reported that two people had been killed and two injured in a blast at a shop in the town of Rostov-on-Don, farther north.

The deputy head of Rostov’s city administration, Yevgeny Shepelev, told Echo of Moscow radio that the blast had occurred when a shop assistant tried to open a plastic bag he had found outside the building.

Shepelev said that it would take a day or two for police to reach a conclusion about who was behind the blast, but that he doubted it had been carried out by Chechen rebels.

However, Russian television channels said in reports from Rostov that residents were linking the blast with Chechnya.

NTV commercial television aired footage from Vladikavkaz showing a wrecked car and the ground nearby spattered with blood and strewn with miscellaneous objects, including a shoe.

Tensions have been running high in the North Caucasus since July 2, when a series of coordinated suicide truck bombings all aimed at military command posts, checkpoints and barracks in Chechnya killed at least 37 Russian servicemen.