Massive hunt on for Russian car bombers

Massive hunt on for Russian car bombers
Jon Boyle

MOSCOW, MARCH 25: Police and troops carried out a huge operation in Russia’s turbulent South on Sunday, detaining suspects and mounting road blocks as they hunted for car bombers who killed more than 20 people a day earlier.

Doctors said another man had died in hospital of injuries received in one of Saturday’s three blasts, Interfax news agency reported. That took the death toll to 22 as local authorities prepared to bury the first victims.

The blasts in the Stavropol region and the neighbouring province of Karachayevo-Cherkessia injured 141 others. Of those, 20 are in a serious condition, RTR television said.

Officials accused separatist guerrillas in breakaway Chechnya of masterminding the attacks, and President Vladimir Putin called for “the toughest measures” against the bombers.

Putin’s envoy to southern Russia, Viktor Kazantsev, said police had detained at least one strong suspect in the case and prosecutors in Chechnya said they had arrested three more people in connection with the bombings.

‘‘I am sure that this case will be resolved and that the criminals will be punished,’’ Kazantsev said on NTV television.

RTR television showed footage of a man it said was the driver of the bobby-trapped car which exploded in Karachayevo-Cherkessia, killing two bomb disposal experts. The man appeared to show signs of having been beatenhis left cheek and nose were bloodied and swollen.

Reuters