Russia nationalists likely behind August 13 train bomb

MOSCOW, Aug 23 (Reuters) A senior Russian prosecutor said nationalists were the most likely culprits in a bombing which derailed a train travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg on August 13, Interfax news agency reported today.

''The most serious (line of inquiry) is a terrorist attack by nationalist youth groups from Moscow or St Petersburg,'' First Deputy Prosecutor-General Alexander Bastrykin said in an interview to be published in Rossiisskaya Gazeta on Friday, Interfax reported.

Russian investigators were not though ruling out the possibility that the bombing was linked to insurgents from Russia's Chechnya region, or organised crime, Interfax quoted Bastrykin as saying in the newspaper interview.

Russian media have previously cited unnamed police sources as saying nationalists were their principal suspects, but until now no prosecutor has stated this on the record.

A bomb planted on the tracks exploded just as the train passed over it on one of Russia's busiest routes. Carriages were tipped on their sides and dozens were wounded, but no one killed.

Some Russian media have speculated the bombing might have been an attempt to influence the outcome of next year's presidential elections, when a replacement will be chosen for outgoing President Vladimir Putin.

Radical nationalists are most commonly associated with street attacks on dark-skinned migrant workers, but they have been linked in the past to bomb attacks.

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