MOSCOW (AP) — A female suicide bomber struck a passenger bus in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Monday, killing five people and injuring 32 others, officials said.
The explosion was the first on a bus in Russia since a female suicide bomber blew herself up in 2008 in the North Caucasus, a region in southern Russia where an Islamic insurgency is simmering.
Volgograd is located about 650 kilometers (400 miles) to the northeast of the North Caucasus, but Monday's bombing was certain to add to security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. Sochi sits to the west of the North Caucasus, along the Black Sea.
The suspected bomber was from Dagestan, one of the predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus, said Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Russia's main investigative agency. In a statement, he identified the woman as 30-year-old Naida Akhiyalova.
No one immediately claimed responsibility.
Markin said at least five people died and 32 were hospitalized, including eight who were in serious condition. It was unclear whether the suicide bomber was listed among the dead.
The explosion occurred at a bus stop near a timber storage site. The bus remained in one piece but the windows were blown out.
A total of 40 people were on the city bus at the time of the explosion, said Irina Gogolyeva, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry.
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