Moscow (CNN) -- Russian authorities are investigating six suspicious deaths and at least one car explosion this week about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the site of next month's Winter Olympics, they said Thursday.
The deaths in southern
Russia's Stavropol territory, which borders the province where the
Olympics will be held in Sochi, have prompted security forces to conduct
an anti-terrorism sweep there, state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.
It's one of the latest moves to address security concerns before the
games.
The bodies of three men
and explosive material were found Thursday in a vehicle in Maryinskaya
in Stavropol province, Russia's Investigative Committee said on its
website.
A day earlier, a vehicle
containing a body exploded in Tambukan, in the same province, as police
approached it, and two other bodies were found in other vehicles in
Zolskaya Wednesday, the Investigative Committee said.
The latest alert comes
amid heightened concern about security following twin bombings on public
transit in the southern city of Volgograd at the end of last month.
No group has claimed responsibility for those attacks, but suspicion has fallen on Chechen separatist groups.
Three people also died last month in a car bombing in the city of Pyatigorsk, in Stavropol territory.
Dmitri Trenin, director
of the Moscow Carnegie Center, said it appeared that the latest killings
may be the work of Islamist militants from the tiny North Caucasus
republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, which neighbors Stavropol territory.
The militants have
carried out similar attacks on taxi drivers and other ordinary people in
the past three to four years, he said. They are motivated by a vendetta
against the local police and authorities and, more broadly, against the
secular Russian state.
The latest security
incidents are not likely to be directly linked to the Winter Olympics in
Sochi but are part of a bigger picture of unrest in the North Caucasus
region, Trenin said. They are receiving more attention than usual
because of the upcoming games, he added.
There has been no
official confirmation that militants from Kabardino-Balkaria were
involved in the suspicious deaths in Stavropol territory.
Cossacks boost Sochi security
A special exclusion zone
went into force in Sochi on Tuesday, under which access to the Black
Sea resort town is heavily restricted.
About 400 Cossacks
arrived Thursday in Sochi, where they will be deployed to assist the
police during the games and provide security for visiting athletes and
tourists, RIA Novosti said.
They will accompany
police patrols in full traditional uniform, including fur hats and
swords, the news agency said, in a move that carries echoes of Tsarist
Russia. The Cossacks are known for their military prowess.
Security analysts have
warned that terrorists targeting the games may try to strike elsewhere
in Russia against softer targets than those in Sochi.
Chechen warlord Doku
Umarov, leader of the Islamist Caucasus Emirate group, last summer
called on his followers to do what they could to disrupt the games.
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