Bomb kills 10 soldiers in southern Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia - At least 10 Russian soldiers have been killed by a bomb as they were on their way to a steam bathhouse in a town near Russia's rebel Chechnya, justice officials and doctors said.

The bomb packed with metal rods exploded as a unit of Interior Ministry troops approached the wash-houses in the town of Makhachkala, regional capital of Muslim Dagestan that borders Chechnya.

Prosecutors said 28 people were wounded in the blast which happened near a roadside water pipeline. Explosives experts said it was remotely detonated.

Fourteen people were being treated for severe injuries, said the chief doctor of a first-aid team, Kazamfar Magomedov.

"I stepped out of my house to buy a paper and saw from the window of the shop three military cars approach the bathhouse," said Magomed Abdullayev, who lives in a neighbouring building.

"When I came out of the shop, there was an explosion and I saw a lot of smoke and a woman was knocked over by the blast." Dagestan, a territory by the Caspian Sea, has suffered from an overspill of violence from Chechnya since separatist war erupted in the North Caucasus territory more than a decade ago.

It has been the scene of numerous bomb and shooting attacks and incursions by Chechen rebels over the past 10 years.

The soldiers were from the 8th squadron of the Interior Ministry's special forces, although initial reports said the men were from the 102nd brigade.

It was not the first time that Russian soldiers visiting the bathhouse had been targeted. In January 2002 a bomb at the same spot in Makhachkala killed seven soldiers and wounded four others.

The soldiers who died were part of a contingent of about 50 who arrived at the bathhouse in three trucks from barracks outside town for their weekly visit.

Dozens of windows were shattered in buildings nearby by the force of the blast. An Interior Ministry investigative group has been formed and flown to Dagestan.

- REUTERS