Unrecognized Danger in Transnistria

Unrecognized Danger in Transnistria

RIBNITSA, Transnistria -- Last month, a trolley bus ambled along a Soviet-era street on a hot afternoon, and blew up before it reached its next stop. Eight people were killed, and 46 injured in this July bomb blast, creating a rumble not quite strong enough to pique the interest of the war-fatigued Western press.

It happened again two weeks ago when a trolley bus on a similar route, this time touring around on a quiet Sunday afternoon, was blown to bits, killing a 50-year-old man and six-year-old girl. Ten people were injured, many of them seriously. The following day, a live grenade was found on a university campus and turned in to authorities by a security guard. Both bombs and the grenade were made of the same explosive material.

The unremarkable Dniester River snakes a divide between Ukraine and Moldova, forming a burdensome and troubling patch of land known as Transnistria on its right bank.

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