Bomb blast in Transnistria

From the Kyiv Post (6.7.2006)

Eight people killed, 46 injured in bus blast in separatist Transdniester

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) - An explosion ripped apart a small civilian bus in the Moldovan separatist republic of Trans-Dniester early Thursday, killing eight people and injuring 46, the republic's official Olvia Pres news agency said.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. But a separatist official suggested that a passenger linked to criminal groups might have been carrying a bomb that went off accidentally, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The Moldovan government has accused the separatists of trafficking weapons, a charge they have denied. Transdniester officials do not deny they have small criminal groups, but they reject claims that authorities are involved in smuggling.

Thursday's blast, at a traffic light in the Transdniester capital Tiraspol, blew off the roof and sides of the bus, which carried 12 passengers. Eight were killed and four badly injured, the private news agency Lenta PNR said. The roof was blown 100 meters (yards) in the explosion, Lenta PNR said.

Most of the injured were passers-by, and 10 were passengers on another bus hit by the impact of the blast, Lenta PNR said, citing Interior Ministry investigators. The windows of that bus were blown out.

More than half the injured were seriously hurt, Olvia quoted Tiraspol prosecutor Ivan Lesukov as saying.

Oleg Beleakov, the separatists' deputy interior minister, was quoted as telling RIA Novosti that a passenger might have been carrying a bomb meant for a commando killing between criminal business groups, and it might have exploded accidentally on the bus.

Moldovan authorities have offered their help in the investigation, the separatist Interior Ministry spokeswoman Ala Meleca said. Moldova has had tense relations with Trans-Dniester since the separatists broke away in 1992 with Russian support, after a war that left more than 1,500 people dead.

An uneasy peace has dominated the region since then, and there have not been outbreaks of violence. The province, which borders Ukraine, is not recognized internationally.

Moldova's relations also have soured with Russia, which keeps about 1,500 troops in the region to guard large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition left over from the Soviet Army presence.

Among the injured in Thursday's blast were two Russian peacekeepers, one on each bus, Beleakov was quoted as saying.

The European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have said they were concerned that the Transdniester border was a conduit for illegal goods, drugs, stolen cars and illegal immigrants making their way into Ukraine and, in some cases, on to the EU.

There have been isolated incidents involving weapons in Transdniester, but nothing as serious as an explosion like the blast in Tiraspol on Thursday.

In April, two women were detained for selling Russian grenades at the market in Tiraspol. The following month, a man was detained for transporting grenades and other weapons in a truck. On June 24, a grenade exploded, killing a 28-year-old man. Authorities said it was probably suicide.