A bomber attacked a bus near a Russian military air base near Chechnya yesterday, killing herself and at least 16 others in a new blow to the Kremlin's claims that peace is returning to the volatile region.

　　The bus was carrying military and civilian personnel from the city of Mozdok to a nearby airfield. The death toll and accounts of the bombing differed, with some saying the woman boarded the bus and others saying she crawled underneath it to set off her bomb.

　　An Interior Ministry official in the North Ossetia region where the attack happened said 19 people were killed, including the attacker, while Russian prosecutors said the death toll was at least 16.

　　Russian networks showed footage of bodies covered by white sheets near the badly damaged red-and-white bus, which was riddled with small holes and dents near the door and missed most of its windows. Citing regional prosecutor Alexander Begulov, Channel One television said the woman had detonated a bomb filled with metal balls.

　　The regional Interior Ministry official said the woman blew herself up after boarding the bus while it was waiting at a railroad crossing.

　　However, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky said the woman approached the bus at its final stop en route to the base and blew herself up next to it. North Ossetian Prime Minister Mikhail Shatalov said the woman thrust herself under the bus before detonating the explosives, the Interfax news agency reported.

　　There are rules barring military vehicles from picking up passengers for fear of terrorist attacks, the Interior Ministry official said.

　　Fridinsky said it appeared the attacker wanted to get inside the air base.

　　The city 130 kilometers northwest of the Chechen capital Grozny is the main headquarters for Russian forces who have been fighting rebels in Chechnya for most of the past decade.

　　The passengers included an air crew and support workers from the Prokhladny air base three miles from Mozdok, according to North Ossetia's emergency situations minister, Boris Dzgoyev.

　　He said they were members of the 4th Air Army, which serves southern Russia. Dzgoyev said there were at least 27 people aboard the bus and 12 were hospitalized.

　　There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

　　A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service, Sergei Ignatchenko, said two top Chechen rebel leaders, Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev, must have been aware of plans for the attack, Interfax reported.