Coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State Daniel Benjamin on Thursday offered condolences on behalf of the American people over the recent terrorist attack in southern Russia that killed at least seven people.
An explosive device went off outside a concert hall in downtown Stavropol on Wednesday evening about 15 minutes before a dance group from Russia's restive Chechen Republic was due to perform.
The bomb, equivalent to 400 grams of TNT, killed at least 7 people and injured more than 40.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., Benjamin said that both the United States and Russia had suffered from terrorist attacks and should expand their cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The Stavropol Territory is the largest region in Russia's North Caucasus Federal District, and hosts its administration, but has remained largely free of the violence in the neighboring republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Russia has been fighting militants in the volatile North Caucasus region for almost two decades but has so far failed to quash the resistance of radical Islamic separatists.
Earlier this year, twin powerful blasts hit the Moscow metro during the morning rush hour on March 29, killing 40 people and injuring over 100.
On March 31 two bombs shook the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan, claiming 12 lives.
WASHINGTON, May 28 (RIA Novosti)
