Gas supplies to Russia's North Ossetia were cut off until next morning on Sunday as security forces have been working to defuse an explosive devise planted on the pipeline in nearby Ingushetia, a police official said.
An unidentified police official in North Ossetia said experts have been working for four hours already, but have so far been unable to defuse the bomb. "Procedures to cut off the supplies have been launched already," he said.
The spokeswoman for the republic's emergencies department, Yulia Starchenko, confirmed the cutoff, saying supplies will hopefully be resumed after 9 a.m. on Monday.
Russia's mainly Muslim and ethnically diverse North Caucasus republics have been swept by an upsurge of violence recently, with terrorist acts, skirmishes, militant attacks on police and other officials being reported almost daily.
VLADIKAVKAZ, December 13 (RIA Novosti)
