Volgograd has become an object of a terrorist attack for the second time in 2013. The city on the Volga River is a major transportation hub in southern Russia. Law-enforcement agencies say that there is a powerful terrorist group working in the city.
"Apparently, the city attracts the attention of terrorists, as it serves a major transport interchange hub in the south of Russia. A terrorist act carried out in the city inevitably causes a wide response, and this is the goal of criminals," officials said.
According to him, the train station in Volgograd, where the blast occurred in the afternoon of December 29th, was the ultimate goal of the suicide bomber. "From the station, one can go to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, but it is not really likely that the female suicide bomber, who had more than ten kilos of TNT, could embark on a long trip either by train or by bus," a representative of law enforcement agencies said.
Most likely, the suicide bomber, who blew herself up at the train station in Volgograd, came from the Caucasus, most likely from Dagestan. Law enforcers of the republic said that they were investigation the information into all individuals, who left Dagestan during the recent days to reach the alleged accomplices of the Volgograd attack.
In pictures: Explosion at Volgograd train station
On Sunday, December 29th, a female suicide bomber exploded herself at the entrance to the railway station in Volgograd. According to most recent reports, 14 people were killed and 34 were injured.
The previous attack was conducted in Volgograd on 21 October, when a bomber exploded herself in a passenger bus. Six people were killed on the site, including the terrorist herself, several dozen people were injured.
The police identified the bomber, who attacked the train station of Volgograd on December 29th. The woman is a native of Dagestan, Oksana Aslanova. She was a friend of Naida Asiyalova, who killed herself in the passenger bus in October.
As of 20:00 MSK, the death toll of the terrorist attack increased to 16. Three days of mourning were declared in the Volgograd region of Russia on January 1-3, 2014.
Aslanova was married to one of the rebel leaders, who had been killed in a special operation. After her husband's death, she married another man, who was also a member of illegal armed groups.