DATE=05/09/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-289602

TITLE=RUSSIA EXPLOSION (S)

BYLINE=SONJA PACE

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// WATCH C-N WIRE AND UPDATE DEATH FIGURE AS NEEDED ///

INTRO: A powerful explosion tore through a military parade in southern Russia, killing up to 20 people and injuring about 100. V-O-A's Sonja Pace reports from Moscow.

TEXT: Local police officials are quoted as saying a powerful landmine exploded and hit a bus carrying members of a military marching band in the town of Kaspiisk, in the southern republic of Dagestan.

The blast occurred as people gathered for this year's "Victory Day" celebration, marking the 57th anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Few other details of the blast are immediately available.

Dagestan is frequently the scene of small-scale bombings and unrest. The violence is widely viewed as spillover from the neighboring republic of Chechnya, where Russian troops are fighting a bloody and drawn out guerrilla war against separatist rebels.

NEB/SP/JWH