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Ossetian violence

August 17, 2010

One police officer has been killed and two others wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the Caucasus region of North Ossetia. The region is a site of tension between ethnic groups living there.

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Map of North Ossetia
The North Caucasus have been a volatile region

A suicide bomber has detonated explosives near a police checkpoint in Russia's Caucasus region of North Ossetia, killing one police officer and wounding two others.

The attacker blew himself up after approaching a police checkpoint on a road near the border with Ingushetia province, a police official said. North Ossetia lies to the north of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, recognised by Russia as independent after the 2008 war with Georgia.

North Ossetia and other regions of the North Caucasus are frequently targeted by violence that stems from separatist wars in Chechnya during the 1990s.

Tuesday's attack occurred in the Prigorodny district, the site of a territorial dispute between ethnic Ossetians and Ingush that erupted into deadly fighting in 1992 and remains a source of tension.

Author: Matt Zuvela, Joanna Impey (Reuters/AP/AFP)
Editor: Rob Turner

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