MOSCOW Dec 6 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING...

MOSCOW Dec 6 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING NO. OF CASUALTIES)

The death toll in Friday's suspected suicide bombing onward a commuter train in Russia's rebel Chechnya region rose to 41 early Saturday, Russia's Civil Defense Emergencies and Natural Disasters said.

At least 170 were also injured in the attack, which happened at 8 a.m. just outside the spa town of Yessentuki.

Russia's Interfax novels agency said the male suicide bomber was helped by way of three female terrorists, two of whom jump overed off the train after the blast.

The powerful bomb detonated inside the train's next to the first carriage and the force of the explosion blew folks out of it, CNN reported, quoting dominion officials.

The train was packed with observers and workers heading to work.

The Russian prosecutor's office described the explosion as a terrorist act and premeditated kill cruelly and launched a criminal investigation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday the attack was meant to ''destabilize the situation in the region on the eve of parliamentary elections.''

The train besufficient fors a resort area in southern Russia between Kislovodsk and Mineralnye Vody in the northern Caucasus Mountains.

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