Two killed in 'terror attack' on Russian hydro-power plant in Caucasus
- Source: Global Times
- [01:40 July 22 2010]
- Comments
A Russian NTV channel television still shows walls charred from a blast Wednesday at the Baksanskaya hydroelectric power plant near the town of Baksan in Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria region. Photo: AFP
Militants stormed a hydroelectric plant in Russia's volatile Caucasus region Wednesday in a brazen dawn attack, killing two and setting the facility ablaze with a string of blasts, officials said.
The unknown attackers, who also beat up other plant employees, set off the explosions at the station in the North Caucasus' Kabardino-Balkaria region by laying mines in the turbine room.
The plant has been shut down as a result.
"A terror act took place at the Baksanskaya hydroelectric power plant," state-run power group RusHydro, which runs the plant, said in a statement.
The authorities are battling a Muslim insurgency in the Caucasus, where Moscow fought two bloody wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s and militants have long pledged to destroy key infrastructure sites.
"Spoke to head of FSB (security service) and Kabardino-Balkarian president. Security at strategic sites was tightened after today's explosions at the HPP," President Dmitry Medvedev said in a message on Twitter.
