Bomb Explodes On Moscow Bus

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MOSCOW: The second bomb in as many days exploded on a Moscow city bus Friday morning. At least 27 were injured, eight seriously, when TNT hidden in a cloth bag tore the front end from a bus about three miles north of the Kremlin. President Yeltsin and Mayor Yuri Luzhkov blamed the attack on terrorists, closed the main roads leading out of Moscow, and flooded the city with police. "Luzhkov thinks that Chechens or criminals opposed to the new anti-crime policy are responsible," says TIME's Moscow correspondent Yuri Zarakhovich, who doubts the separatist guerrillas are behind the attacks. "If the Chechens set the bombs, they would have claimed responsibility by now. They understand that the political fallout from the attacks are more important than the attacks themselves. People are so stunned, and stupefied by the attacks that they have not reacted yet. One thing is sure -- there is a full out terrorist war in Moscow." No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb, which is the third attack on Moscow's vulnerable public transport system since explosives in the subway killed four people on June 11. At a meeting of the Federal Security Service, Yeltsin said Moscow was littered with terrorists and promised he and Luzhkov would take tough measures. The two bus attacks follow a Wednesday agreement by Yeltsin and his newly appointed national security advisor Alexander Lebed on a plan to cut down crime in the capital. --Terence Nelan