Ahead of Sochi, Two Bomb Blasts in Volgograd, Russia [Update]

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Another protest from freedom fighters in the Caucuses?

Suspected female suicide bomber kills 14 in Russia’s south (VIDEO)

MOSCOW (RT News) – At least 14 people were killed in a blast at a railway station in the city of Volgograd, southern Russia. A female suicide bomber is suspected to have carried out the attack, says the National Anti-terrorism Committee.

Follow RT’s Live Updates on the blast

“According to preliminary reports, this was a terrorist act. Fourteen people have lost their lives, 34 were injured, 30 of them more critically than others. An Emergencies plane is waiting to be dispatched from Moscow,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

However, the Health Ministry confirms that 27 people have been taken to hospital. According to the Investigative Committee, a child of 9 was among the injured.

The incident is being treated as an act of terrorism, the committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

The blast took place at 12.45 local time inside the building of the railway. It is “thought to have been carried out by a female suicide bomber,” according to the anti-terrorism committee’s statement.

Watch RT’s Egor Piskunov report

President Vladimir Putin has ordered that all the necessary measures be taken to assist survivors and provide security in Volgograd, the Kremlin reported.

« click to enlarge Etnic groups in the Caucasus region (Wikipedia)

Volgograd is a city of around 1 million people, about 690 km northeast of Sochi and close to Russia’s volatile region of North Caucasus. The city saw a terrorist attack just in October, when a suicide bomber blew herself up in a bus, killing six people and injuring more than 30 others.

On Friday, a car bomb killed three people, all passerbys, in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk as a homemade explosive device went off outside the Road Traffic Safety Department. Funerals are scheduled for December 30.