Security high after Russia bombs

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian police and troops carried out a large security operation in the country's turbulent south on Sunday after a series of lethal bomb attacks.

At least 21 people were killed and 142 injured by three blasts on Saturday near rebel Chechnya.

Officials blamed the explosions on separatist guerrillas and President Vladimir Putin called for "the toughest measures" against the bombers.

"Everything possible is being done to capture the bandits," a duty officer at the regional crisis centre set up by Putin's envoy in southern Russia said by telephone.

An Interior Ministry officer in the town of Mineralnye Vody in the Stavropol region where a booby-trapped car killed 19 people and injured more than 100 at a busy street market said a stepped-up police presence was evident everywhere.

VIDEO CNN's Jill Dougherty goes to the Mineralny Vody, where the town is preparing to bury its dead Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Jill Dougherty reports on the blasts that hit Russia Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    AUDIO CNN's Steve Harrigan: A chaotic border region 432kb/40secs. AIFF or WAV sound    MESSAGE BOARD Discuss changes in Russia

"An increased number of armed policemen are patrolling the streets and traffic police are stopping and checking every vehicle and taking down plate numbers and route details," he said by telephone.

NTV television showed a police officer distributing photofits of presumed bombers compiled from eyewitness accounts after Saturday's blasts.

A car explosion in the Stavropol town of Yessentuki injured more than a dozen people and two police bomb experts died in the neighbouring republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia while trying to defuse another booby-trapped car.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the blasts but Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told Interfax news agency he believed prominent Jordanian-born rebel commander Khattab to be behind the bombings.

"That is what we can conclude from information gathered in the course of the investigation," he said.

Putin's special envoy, 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.

Earlier this month, a Russian court said Khattab was responsible for the bombing of an apartment block in Dagestan, Chechnya's eastern neighbour, in 1999, when 66 people died.

The attack, followed by similar blasts across Russia, was used by then Prime Minister Putin as a reason to launch an offensive to return Chechnya to Moscow's fold.

Russia has since established shaky control over most of the territory but has failed to stamp out the insurgency.

Interfax said several Russian servicemen had died over the weekend in the Chechen capital Grozny when rebels opened fire on a police vehicle. It said at least 11 Russians had been wounded over the past 24 hours in rebel attacks.

The head of administration in Mineralnye Vody, Mikhail Chukavin, said the town was still reeling from Saturday's bombing and he was making funeral arrangements.

"I cannot think about anything else," he said by telephone. "We have to bury 19 innocent people. The first funeral will take place today."

Reuters contributed to this report.

At least 20 die in Russia blasts
March 24, 2001
Eight found murdered in Chechnya
March 23, 2001
Freed jet hostages heading home
March 17, 2001
Chechen rebel suspects held
March 11, 2001
Three dead in Russian market blasts
December 8, 2000

Russian Government
Human Rights Watch: Chechnya
Chechen rebels

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