RUSSIA: A bomb blast which killed at least 34 people, including 12 children, in the southern Russian town of Kaspiysk appears designed to exact the maximum retaliation from Moscow.
The bomb went off during a parade to mark the 57th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the second World War, in which 26 million Soviet citizens died.
Almost every family in Russia lost someone in that conflict and Victory Day on May 9th is a day in which pride at the Red Army's capture of Berlin and sadness at the immense loss of life are intertwined.
The planting of a bomb at a Victory Day parade will have been an assault on the most basic emotions of the Russian people.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the condemnations of this particular outrage have been couched in much stronger terms than usual.
Russia's President, Mr Vladimir Putin, described the bombing as "a terrorist attack carried out by scum for whom nothing is sacred, and whom we have the right to regard as being Nazis".
He did, however, caution against over-reaction in the response to the attack.
"Such crimes and cruelty cannot but cause emotions.
"These emotions must not prevent us from carrying out a thorough investigation of this crime."
The bomb, which appears to have been hidden in shrubbery close to the town's main square, went off as a military band marched by.
Most of the dead were band members but at least 12 children also lost their lives.
Kaspiysk is a small town south of Makhachkala, the capital of the southern Russian republic of Dagestan.
The region borders on Chechnya and was the scene of attacks by Chechen warlords and their supporters which led to the start of the second Chechen war in October 1999.
Chechen warlords have been identified as the prime suspects for the blast. However, there may also be some links to the al-Qaeda network.
The attack has come shortly after the confirmed killing by Russian agents of the shadowy militant known only as Khattab.
Often described as Jordanian, Khattab was certainly an Arab who was a member the ultra-conservative Wahabi school of Islam.
It is most likely that he was born in Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahabism, and Russian and US sources say they have evidence of his links with Osama bin Laden.
His reappearance on several occasions after unconfirmed reports of his death gave him an almost mystical status.
He was reported to have been active with Taliban forces in the northern Afghan cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif but no concrete evidence of this has been forthcoming.
