October 31, 2007 (LPAC)--A bomb ripped through a bus in the Russian city of Togliatti. It is believed to have been caused by up to 2 kg (4.4 lbs) of explosives, local police sources said, according to Associated Press. "We have reached the conclusion that this was an act of terrorism," the Samara region governor Vladimir Artyakov said in comments broadcast by Russia's Vesti-24 news channel. "We are clarifying what type of explosive device was used and we are also clarifying the possibility that there could be more victims." It was not apparent who was responsible.

"Eight people are dead, fifty are injured, with ten rescue groups involved. The first arrived within five minutes of the explosion and more soon after," said Vladimir Markhin, the Togliatti representative of the Russian investigation committee."There is reason to believe that the explosive was planted either underneath or on the floor of the bus," the police source was quoted as saying.

Togliatti, an industrial city on the banks of the Volga river, and home to the country's biggest car maker, AvtoVaz, and is sometimes called Russia's Detroit.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin phoned his envoy to the Volga region and ordered that "every possible measure to give medical assistance to those injured and to help the families of those killed," should be provided, Interfax said.

This was the second blast on a bus in Russia in just over a week, following an explosion that killed one person and wounded five in the turbulent province of Dagestan on 23 October, according to RTE News.