Security forces in Russia’s southern Stavropol region have been put on combat alert after five bodies with gunshot wounds and an explosive device were discovered on Wednesday, a regional security spokesman said.
Security has already been on high alert after suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in separate attacks in the southern city of Volgograd last month.
Forces remain on combat alert before next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, on which President Vladimir Putin has staked a lot of political and personal prestige.
The five dead bodies were discovered on Wednesday in four cars in two separate districts outside the regional capital Stavropol, a gateway to the North Caucasus, where Russia faces an insurgency by Islamist militants who have threatened to try to prevent the Olympics going ahead.
An unidentified explosive device was also found near one of the vehicles, said a spokesman for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Stavropol.
No other details were immediately available.
Southern Russia goes on high alert as five bodies are found
