Russians shoot bomb suspect dead

RUSSIAn security forces said yesterday they have killed a militant who may have masterminded suicide bombings that killed 34 people in the southern city of Volgograd in December and raised fears for the security of the Sochi Winter olympics.

Dzamaltin Mirzayev was shot dead by law enforcement officers who surrounded a home in the north Caucasus province of Dagestan, a spokesman for investigators said.

Authorities believe Mirzayev may have sent two men from Dagestan to carry out the bombings at a train station and on a tram in Volgograd on 29 and 30 December, he said.

The bombings raised concerns of further attacks by Islamist militants before or during the Sochi games.

Dagestan, on the Caspian Sea about 350 miles south-east of Sochi, is beset by near-daily violence linked to the insurgency.

Russian authorities said last week they had identified the bombers and arrested two men suspected of helping send them to Volgograd from Dagestan.

The national Anti-Terrorism Committee declined to comment on whether Mirzayev was linked to the Volgograd attacks.

In a video clip posted on the internet in July, the leader of the north Caucasus insurgency urged fighters to do all they could to prevent the olympics going ahead.