MOSCOW (Islmaweb & Agencies) - Unidentified gunmen took hostage 41 people traveling on a bus in southern Russia on Tuesday, Russian news agencies said.
RIA news agency quoted local police as saying that two gunmen seized the commuter bus traveling from the town of Nevinnomyssk in the regional capital of Stavropol at around 7 a.m.
RIA said the gunmen, armed with automatic rifles, made no demands. Interfax news agency said one hostage had been released and the bus was heading to the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has a major airport.
An aide to the regional governor contacted by telephone in Stavropol confirmed the incident, but gave no details.
The Stavropol region borders Russia's volatile North Caucasus, where Russia is fighting Republicans in Chechnya.
Blaming Chechen Republicans for a series of kidnappings in the south in the early 1990s, Russia used the incidents as a pretext for moving troops into the Republic in late 1994.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Chechen boys stand at the gates of their house with toy pistols in the capital of Chechen capital of Grozny, July 5, 2001. Russian servicemen have notably failed to kill or capture most of the top rebels, despite occupying all of the most mountanous Chechnya for more than a year, and tens of thousands of civilians who fled the fighting remain unwilling to return home. REUTERS/Adlan Khasanov
- Jul 05 2:40 PM ET