Russia: 16 killed in suicide attack at market

A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 100 others near a busy market in Russia's restive North Caucasus yesterday.

The bomb was packed with metal bars, bolts and ball bearings in a car outside the entrance to the market in Vladikavkaz, capital of North Ossetia province, a Russian official said.

The attack in mostly Orthodox Christian North Ossetia is a fresh blow to the Kremlin's efforts to rein in an Islamic insurgency in the neighbouring, mainly Muslim, North Caucasus provinces of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.