Russia car bomb arrests

MOSCOW, Russia -- Security forces have arrested at least four people after three car bombs killed 21 people, a senior official has said.

Chechen rebels have been blamed for the bombings, although no one has admitted responsibility.

Three car bombs exploded on Saturday in the southern Russian towns of Mineralnye Vody, where 19 people died, Adyge-Khabl, where two bomb disposal officers died, and Yessentuki.

In each case, small Zhiguli sedans were packed with explosives, police said.

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Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Federal Security Service, told NTV television: "We can already say that these three crimes were connected, there have been arrests.

"These are people who have information about how this terrorist attack was prepared."

More than 100 people were injured in the Mineralnye Vody when the car bomb exploded in a busy market street on Saturday.

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.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told Interfax news agency he believed prominent Jordanian-born rebel commander Khattab to be behind the bombings.

But rebel Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said: "We are not fighting with civilians. We conduct a guerrilla war with the occupiers.

"We have nothing to do with the criminal structures of Russia and do not fight with women, old men, children and civilians."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Russian Government
Human Rights Watch: Chechnya
Chechen rebels

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