Russian authorities said yesterday that security forces had been put on combat alert in the southern Stavropol region after the discovery of six bodies with gunshot wounds in four different cars, three of which were rigged with explosives
Only one of the bombs went off and no one was hurt. But the killings are further heightening security concerns ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which also lies near the Caucasus region, where an Islamic insurgency is simmering.
High alert: Russian security officials frisk a man and ask for his ID. Security has been beefed up in the area a month before the Winter Olympics. Pic/AFP
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Three men whose bodies were in three of the cars have been identified: two were taxi drivers and the third assembled furniture for a private businessman.
Russia has already tightened security before next month’s Games, on which President Vladimir Putin has staked a lot of political and personal prestige, and is on high alert after suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in separate attacks in the southern city of Volgograd last month.
The corpses were discovered on Wednesday in two separate districts outside the regional capital Stavropol, a gateway to the North Caucasus, where Russia faces an insurgency by Islamist militants who have threatened to try to prevent the Olympics going ahead.
Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia’s main investigative agency, said that no motive had yet been determined.
37,000
Number of security personnel put on high alert to ensure the safety of the Sochi Games
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