A blast that tore through an electric bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd during Monday’s morning rush hour, killing 14, was probably carried out by suicide bombers from the same organisation behind a railway explosion a day earlier, officials said.
Together more than 30 people were killed in the explosions, putting the city of one million on edge and highlighting the terrorist threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
While terrorists may find it hard to get to the tightly guarded Olympic facilities, the bombings have shown they can hit civilian targets elsewhere in Russia with shocking ease.
Volgograd, located about 650 kilometres (400 miles) north east of Sochi, serves as a key transport hub for southern Russia, with numerous bus routes linking it to volatile provinces in Russia’s North Caucasus, where insurgents have been seeking an Islamic state.
The city, previously called Stalingrad, also serves as an important symbol of Russian pride because of a historic Second World War battle in which the Soviets turned the tide against the Nazis.
Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for Russia’s main investigative agency, said Monday’s explosion involved a bomb similar to the one used in Sunday’s bombing at the city’s main railway station.
“That confirms the investigators’ version that the two terror attacks were linked,” Mr Markin said in a statement. “They could have been prepared in one place.”
Mr Markin said that a suicide attacker was responsible for the bus explosion, reversing an earlier official statement saying that the blast was caused by a bomb that had been left in the vehicle’s passenger area.
At least 14 people were killed and nearly 30 were wounded, according to public health officials.
Officials did not name names and no one has claimed responsibility for either bombing, but they came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov threatened new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.