Four people are dead and nine injured after armed Chechens took over a bus in the Republic of Ingushetia in southern Russia.
Police in Ingushetia say three Chechens boarded a mini-bus in the town of Malgobek, and tried to seize two passengers. As they did so, an unidentified passenger set off a grenade, killing four passengers.
Police say the gunmen escaped from the bus, bringing with them one of the passengers, and then sped off in a car toward the Chechen border, where they were apprehended by police. An investigation is under way.
Meanwhile, Chechnya's administrative head, Akhmad Kadyrov, has warned that if two Russian aid workers kidnapped earlier this week are not freed by Friday evening, strict measures will be taken.
The two men had just left the Chechen capital, Grozny, Wednesday evening, when they were forced out of their truck at gunpoint and abducted.