Woman suicide bomber kills 17 Russian air force pilots in bus ambush

A WOMAN suicide bomber ambushed a bus carrying Russian air force pilots near rebel Chechnya yesterday, blowing it up and killing herself and at least 17 others, government officials said.

The attack was the third in three weeks by women suicide guerrillas fighting for Chechen independence and came on the eve of a Russian parliament vote on a partial amnesty for rebel fighters designed to improve prospects for a Kremlin peace plan.

The attack occurred in Russia's North Ossetia region, bordering Muslim Chechnya, after the bus carrying the pilots and a group of civilians attached to the air force stopped near a railway crossing on the outskirts of Mozdok.