Minibus explosion in Moldova separatist region kills 8

CHISINAU, Moldova - A minibus exploded in Moldova's separatist Dnestr region on Thursday, killing eight people on board, and officials said they could not rule out a bomb blast.

A regional official was quoted as saying Moldovan authorities might have staged the blast to foment new tension in the stand-off over Dnestr's 16-year-old separatist rebellion.

Moldova denied the charge and offered to help investigate.

Dnestr's hardline Slav leaders declared independence in 1990 in Soviet times to preclude what they saw as attempts by Moldova's ethnic Romanian majority to join Romania to the south.

The separatists fought a brief war with Moldova in 1992 after the collapse of Soviet rule. Russian troops separated the sides and all attempts to mediate since have failed.

Dnestr's Olvia news agency said the minibus blew up in the main town of Tiraspol.

"Everyone on the bus was killed. For the moment there are eight dead," Dnestr's deputy interior ministry, Oleg Belyakov, told Olvia, the region's official source of news.

Witnesses said the blast occurred while the minibus, a common form of urban transport in ex-Soviet states, was standing by a trolleybus at a traffic light. A day of mourning was declared for Saturday.

Belyakov told Olvia 10 people were injured on the trolleybus, including two servicemen from the 1200-strong contingent of Russian "peacekeepers" still in Moldova.

In Chisinau, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin described the explosion as a "challenge for the entire country.

"I can promise that Moldovan authorities will do everything to help Dnestr's law enforcement bodies investigate the reasons behind the tragedy and determine who is to blame," he said.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is leading efforts to resolve the separatist rebellion, one of several "frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union but talks have bogged down.

- REUTERS