At least one person was killed and 20 injured in a terror blast at racecourse in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria Republic in Russia's North Caucasus region.
Republican Culture Minister and former Interior Minister were among the injured. Kantemir Davidov, the spokesman of the emergency situations department of the republic told Rossiya 24 TV that the explosive device was planted on the roof of the VIP pavilion.
President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the Interior Ministry and FSB security service to launch investigation as the prosecutor's office has filed a case of terrorism ITAR-TASS reported. The explosive device filled with shrapnel was triggered by a timer and it went off as the second horse race to mark the May Day was coming to an end. It did not rule out that today's terror strike could be the revenge for the recent conviction of several underground Muslim militant leaders.
Russia has already tightened security across the country ahead of May Day and Victory Day celebrated on May 9.
All the long-distance buses carrying passengers from Caucasus regions to Moscow have been suspended till May 10 and the Russian capital's numerous wholesale markets attracting traders from different regions have also been closed from today for ten day.
The two suicide female bombers, who attacked Moscow metro stations on March 29, had also come to the capital by long-distance buses taking traders for shopping at wholesale markets.
In an another incident in Ingushetia Republic in Caucasus a man was shot dead by police, when he opened fire at the security personnel at a Judo event attended by the Republic's President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Interfax reported. On March 29 two suspected Chechen female suicide bombers blew themselves up on packed metro trains in central Moscow killing at least 39 people and wounding 63 others.
On March 31, two suicide bombers, including one in police uniform, set off powerful blasts in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing at least 12 people and injuring 27, just a couple of days after the terror attacks on Moscow metro claimed 39 lives. PTI
