Bus hits mine in east Ukraine; four killed

Four people were killed and 20 injured when a passenger bus hit a landmine near a government-controlled town in eastern Ukraine, local officials said yesterday.

The bus had taken a side road in order to avoid a government checkpoint near the town of Artemivsk, some 50 kilometres north of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, late Wednesday, said Ilia Kiva, a government-loyal deputy police chief in the Donetsk region.

According to Kiva, rebels fired grenades at the bus after hearing the noise, but said that the land mine had caused all of the deaths and injuries.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters that 20 people had been injured in the blast.