The explosion at the market in Vladikavkaz, the regional capital of North Ossetia, killed at least five people and wounded 16. It came more than a year after a bomb at the same marketplace killed more than 50 people. Russian officials blamed the March 1999 bombing on separatists from Chechnya, the breakaway region that borders North Ossetia. Police did not immediately offer a motive for the attack. About 300 people died in apartment bombings last year that the government blamed on Chechens.
Bombs are also a frequent weapon in wars between organized crime groups across Russia.
The other explosion, in a department store in the southern city of Rostov, killed two people and wounded two others. A court upheld a death sentence against a former officer found guilty of treason for heading a puppet government under Iraq's occupation. Hussein headed a short-lived puppet government when Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990. Government troops have captured the headquarters of the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, after encountering little resistance, President Joseph Estrada announced. The seizure of the sprawling Camp Abubakar in southern Maguindanao province was a major blow to the rebel group, which has been fighting for an independent Islamic nation in the southern Philippines.