A suicide bomb at a market in Russia's volatile northern caucuses region has killed at least 16 people and injured more than 100 others.
Russian news agencies are quoting President Dmitri Medvedev as vowing to capture those he called, "the bastards" responsible for the attack at a market in Vladikavkaz.
Mr. Medvedev says the Kremlin will do everything in its power to apprehend those responsible for killing innocent civilians.
One unidentified school pupil describes the scene, "There was an explosion. Then we could see people carrying the dead on trolleys."
The head of North Ossetia's Investigative Prosecutor's Department, Konstantin Uskov, says that at one point, officials feared there would be another explosion.
He says specialists have checked the area and there are no other explosives near the market. He also says that a criminal investigation has been opened in the incident, which officials are calling terrorism.
Many of the more than 100 wounded are reported in critical condition and the the death toll is expected to rise.
Another unidentified eyewitness agrees.
We had an explosion, a terrorist attack. More than 20 people are dead, more than 20.
Today's bombing is the deadliest since March when twin suicide bombers attacked in Moscow's metro system, killing 40 and injuring more than 100 others.
Russia has been fighting near-daily attacks on police and government officials in its northern caucuses region. Many analysts describe the violence there as a civil war between the Kremlin-backed administrations of the region and Islamist insurgents. Oppositionists blame the attacks on what they say is the Kremlin's crack down on dissent in the area.
Article by VOA News