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20 killed, 100 wounded in Russian blast - ministry
( 2002-05-09 15:22 ) (7 )

An explosion tore through the central square of a southern Russian town on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and injuring at least 100 during celebrations marking the 57th anniversary of the Allied victory over the Nazis, police said.

The blast occurred in the morning during a holiday demonstration in Kaspiisk, on the Caspian Sea just south of the capital of the Dagestan region, Makhachkala, said Abdul Musayev, spokesman for the regional police headquarters.

"According to information we have more than 100 hundred people were injured and about 20 people died at the scene," said police in the republic of Dagestan, which borders Russia's rebel Chechnya.

The Interfax news agency cited emergency officials as saying the blast was caused by a mine that was hidden in bushes and hit a bus carrying a military brass band.

Dagestan sees frequent small-scale bombings and other unrest, often spillover violence from the war in breakaway Chechnya next door.

Kaspiisk suffered a huge bombing in November 1996 that killed 68 people when it tore through an apartment building housing Russian border guards. Officials never determined the cause of the blast, but many blamed it on Chechen rebels. Kaspiisk, north of the border with Azerbaijan, is home to a large number of Russian border guards.

Thursday's blast came while the country was in a buoyant, patriotic mood thanks to parades and celebrations nationwide to mark Victory Day, one of Russia's most crucial holidays. Thousands of troops marched across Red Square past President Vladimir Putin and aging World War II veterans on Thursday, while triumphant music and films filled the airwaves and streets were blanketed in building-size banners.

An estimated 27 million Soviet citizens were killed in the war, the biggest loss of any country. Entire populations were uprooted, and many towns and cities were razed to the ground.