Vetruvis, Terix II (GNN) -- A pair of suicide bombs detonated outside the Romulan Star Empire Embassy in Terix's capital Tuesday, killing nearly two dozen people in a bloody new development in the planet’s long unrest.
Terix's Health Ministry said at least 23 people were killed and 147 wounded. Among the dead was the RSE's diplomatic attache, T'maekh tr’Deletham. The victims also included two Imperial civilians who lived in a building close to the embassy, Terix’s National News Agency reported.
Free Terix, a reunification extremist group claiming that Terix II is under the influence of a corrupt government, claimed responsibility for the bombings. The group warned that more attacks would come unless the Romulan Star Empire stops sending diplomats to negotiate a peace treaty.
The Terix Defense Fore (TDF) said one of the blasts was caused by a suicide bomber on foot, and the other was caused by a suicide bomber in a landing runabout. Stunned witnesses looked on as massive flames and pillars of black smoke leaped into the sky over Vetruvis, while fires burned through several mining vehicles nearby.
At least six buildings were damaged, the TDF said. Terix’s military High Commander, Dhael N'Vek, said the blasts were "a cowardly terrorist attack" and urged the Terix public "to exercise the utmost restraint because we are going through a very difficult phase," according to a GNN correspondant. N’Vek also called the Imperial attache to check on his safety and express her condolences.
In December, a pair of bombs ripped through neighborhoods near temples in Tripoli, Terix II, with ties to unificationist rebels. At least 27 people died in that attack, while a disruptor bomb targeting a southern suburb of Vetruvis killed at least 22 and injured hundreds.
Vetruvis-based tri-neutral zone analyst Edward Teach told GNN that extremist reunification groups have grown rapidly in the past decade and now threaten "everybody in the region."
"They're anti-Imperial, anti-Klingon, anti-Dominion, anti-Cardassian," said Teach, director of the Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the University of Vetruvis. "They are the big threat, and the fact that these guys are now getting into the business of bombing embassies and bombing their adversaries with suicide bombs is really something quite frightening to everybody."
Teach said the violence is part of a longstanding struggle for influence among the Terix government that has turned much of the region "into a single political and military battleground."
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