Explosions In North Ossetia Kill Two

Officials are treating the blasts as terrorism (RFE/RL) 2 February 1006 -- Reports say explosions ripped through gambling establishments in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz tonight, killing at least two.

Boris Dzgoyev, the Emergency Situations minister in North Ossetia province, says the blasts went off around the same time in the center of the city housing slot machines and other gambling devices.

Prosecutors are treating the blasts as terrorism.

But another official, Oleg Ugnivenko -- the spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry's southern branch -- said investigators suspect they may have been the result of a criminal dispute.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

(AP, AFP)