AT least five people were killed and more than 30 others injured when two explosions rocked a commuter train in a southern Russian town near the war-torn Muslim republic of Chechnya.

Flooding caused by heavy rain in southern Russia has claimed at least 26 lives.

Two students and two women were injured when a grenade taken by a student to a school in southern Russia exploded, police and news reports said today.

Russian Army commandos have stormed a bus that was hijacked by suspected Chechen rebels earlier today.

Gunmen who seized a bus carrying at least 40 people in southern Russia have demanded the release of five Chechens jailed on hijack charges.

A bus carrying 40 people has been seized by at least one gunman in southern Russia. It was heading to a popular resort town in the Caucasus Mountains.

Police have released sketches of six suspects after bombings in southern Russia claimed at least 21 lives.

Three simultaneous car bomb blasts killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 100 others today in southern Russia near the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

At least 14 people were killed and more than 70 were wounded in three bomb blasts this morning in southern Russia, police officials said.

At least nine people have been killed after a car exploded in southern Russia.

Detectives have returned a religious relic which is believed to be part of the body of Christ's apostle Andrew to the Russian Orthodox Church.