Ingushetia bombing

The Swedish European Union presidency said in a statement that it "condemns (Monday's) terrorist attack in Nazran, Russia, and conveys its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this brutal attack."

Early Monday a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with an estimated 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of explosives through the gate of a Nazran police compound, killing at least 20 and injuring dozens. Nazran is the main city in Ingushetia, a restive and increasingly violent autonomous republic in southern Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev responded swiftly to what he described as an "act of terror that could have been averted," and fired Ingushetia's interior minister. "The police must protect the people and the police must also be able to protect themselves," he said on state television.

Medvedev also called on federal Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to submit proposals to the Kremlin "on how to bring about order and strengthen cadres within Ingushetia's interior ministry."

As the gray smoke settled over the twisted rubble, burned cars and blast crater, the attack stoked fears that Ingushetia was replacing Chechnya as the next battleground in southern Russia.

Ingushetia, along with the rest of the Caucasus region, has seen a spike in violence in recent months, with Islamic separatists launching regular attacks on politicians and police officers. Last Wednesday Ingushetia's construction minister was brazenly shot to death in his own office. And Monday's bombing comes just four days after the Kremlin announced that Ingushetia's President Yunus-Bek Yevkurkov would be returning to work while still recovering from injuries sustained in a bomb attack against him in June.

Yevkurov blamed Islamic militants for the attack. "The militants have carried out this terrorist attack with the aim of destabilizing the situation in the region," he said through his spokesman.

The government has declared three days of mourning beginning on Monday.

hf/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Susan Houlton