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Russian suicide blast: Dozens dead
(CNN) -- Rescue workers and sniffer dogs are on their way from Moscow to the scene of a suicide blast at a Russian military hospital that killed at least 27 people, rescue officials said. Officials said 15 people were feared trapped in the rubble of the four-storey red brick administration building in Mozdok, in southern Russia's North Ossetia republic, which was destroyed in the explosion. A suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives through the gates of the military hospital in before detonating the explosives at about 7 p.m. (1500 GMT) Friday, the Interfax news agency said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an investigation into how the truck managed to get through security at the guarded military facility, his aides said. Putin expressed condolences to the victims' relatives and dispatched Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to Mozdok, site of the hospital, Putin's press service said. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. It is the latest incident in an upsurge of suicide attacks that have left more than 100 people dead since May. There are conflicting reports on the death count with some reports saying as many as 35 had been killed. Emergency Situations Minister Boris Dzgoyev told the Associated Press that 27 people were dead and 76 injured, many of which were soldiers recovering from wounds sustained in Chechnya. At the time of explosion, there were 98 patients and 21 workers in the hospital, Dzgoyev said in the AP report. Rescue teams have been working through the night to find survivors. "We were the first to arrive. Near the checkpoint of the hospital there were charred corpses," a medical assistant from Mozdok's central hospital, Galina, was quoted on Rossiya television, according to The Associated Press. "Tents that were put up near the main building were all gone, there was one wall left from the main building." Mozdok is the major staging area and the headquarters for Russian troops battling rebels in neighboring Chechnya, who are seeking an independent Muslim republic. Chechnya is in the grip of a 10-year separatist insurgency, and Mozdok has been a target before. In June, at least 16 people were killed when a female suicide bomber set off a blast near a bus taking soldiers and civilians to work at a military airfield near Mozdok. In Washington, a statement from the White House condemned the attack. "We extend our sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims of the August 1 Mozdok hospital terrorist attack," the statement said. "The United States condemns this act of terrorism, which targeted hospital patients and those who care for them. No cause whatsoever, be it national, ethnic, religious, or political, can justify terrorism." -- CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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