Russia market blast kills five

MOSCOW, Russia -- A bomb exploded at an outdoor market in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan on Sunday, killing five and injuring about 30.

Officials believe the blast was caused by a device consisting of about 200 grams of explosive placed in a bottle, news reports said.

Oleg Grekov, deputy head of the Emergency Situations Ministry office in the city, told the Associated Press that five people had been killed.

Explosions at markets have become common in Russia in recent years. Officials usually blame them on business disputes or on terrorists from Chechnya, where Russia is fighting separatists.

The most recent such explosion was July 26 in Ryazan, in which four people were injured.

Astrakhan is about 850 miles southeast of Moscow, on the delta where the Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea.