Blast Razes Russian Hospital
MOSCOW — A suicide bomber driving a truck rigged with explosives blasted a Russian military hospital near separatist Chechnya on Friday, killing at least 29 people amid a fresh upsurge of violence in the region, authorities said.
Hundreds more were reported wounded, scores seriously, in the attack in Mozdok in the Russian republic of North Ossetia, an area used as a base for Russian forces fighting in Chechnya. Rescuers were still searching for about 13 people in the rubble, emergency officials said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on Chechen rebels.
"A Kamaz truck rammed through the gate and exploded in the direct vicinity of the main building, killing and injuring dozens of patients and medical personnel," Mozdok Vice Mayor Svetlana Lotiyeva said by telephone. "What used to be a hospital is now a terrifying sight that makes one's hair stand on end.
"And it is hard to say what the final death toll will be
The blast left a 15-foot-deep pit in the ground, Lotiyeva said.
About 300 people, mostly soldiers, were reported injured. Ninety-eight patients, plus medical personnel, were in the hospital at the time of the explosion, authorities said.
Many local residents suffered light injuries from shards of flying glass.
Authorities estimated the explosives used to be equivalent to a ton of TNT.
Separatist guerrillas attacked a Russian troop convoy in the Chechen city of Argun overnight Thursday, in an ambush that left a local policeman, a Russian soldier and five to 10 rebels dead. An additional 33 rebels were killed in three clashes Wednesday and Thursday in Chechnya that left at least two Russian soldiers dead, authorities said.
Friday's attack fueled fears that war in Chechnya will spread through the Caucasus region.
"North Ossetia and Ingushetia are already on fire and destabilized. Dagestan is on the brink of exploding. The war in Chechnya is creeping all over the North Caucasus," said Liliya Shevtsova, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center. "This is an extremely alarming tendency."
The latest fighting comes after a series of suicide bombings -- mainly carried out by women -- that have killed at least 123 people since May 12. Two of those attacks were in Chechnya, one was in North Ossetia, and one was at a rock concert in Moscow.
- Russia Keeps Up Its Assault on Chechen Rebels Sep 21, 1999
- Chechen Rebels, Russian Troops Mass at Border Sep 20, 1999
- Russian Premier Shrugs Off U.S., Defends Chechnya Attacks Nov 10, 1999
