Series of Blasts Rock Southern Russia
At least two people were killed and 22 were wounded in a series of four almost simultaneous explosions in the southern Russian region of Stavropol on Friday, an emergency official said.
The first two explosions went off within minutes of each other at a train station in the city of Pyatigorsk, killing the woman and injuring three people, said Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman with the Emergency Situations Ministry.
Shortly after that, two more explosions went off in the city of Nevinnomyssk, wounding 20. The first ripped through a bus stop across from the city administration building, while the second detonated at a market, Beltsov said.
One of those injured in the market died at the hospital, said Marat Syrtlanov, deputy chief of information for the Russian Interior Ministry.
The two towns are about 60 miles apart and it was not immediately clear what caused the explosions or if they were linked. Stavropol borders Russia's breakaway Chechnya, where Russian forces are battling Islamic rebels. Police have blamed the rebels for several bombings of markets and apartment buildings that have killed scores of people in the last year.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts. But police detained two suspects in Pyatigorsk and two in Nevinnomyssk.
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