Groznyy, Itar-Tass, 3 January: Two residents of the district centre of Nozhay-Yurt in the south of Chechnya were seriously injured yesterday when a booby-trap bomb in the form of a portable stereo went off, an ITAR-TASS correspondent was informed at the press centre of the republican Federal Security Service directorate today.

Nozhay-Yurt residents Temirgereyev and Yusupkhadzhiyev found the portable stereo [radio] in the street. Their find blew up as they were examining it. The men were admitted to hospital with numerous shrapnel wounds to the head, chest and arms.

There have been increasingly frequent cases in Chechnya recently of terrorists planting booby-trap bombs camouflaged as consumer goods in populated areas.

For instance, in the village of Alpatovo in Naurskiy District a lighter found in the street blew up in the hands of eight-year-old Aset Makhomayeva. It blew off the girl's hands.

A TNT-filled flash-light was found in Groznyy.

And in the village of Avtury in Shalinskiy District Russian servicemen recently discovered a cache containing four mini booby- trap bombs in the form of Pepsi-Cola cans, in addition to weapons.

Criminal cases have been opened into these incidents. "We have not yet managed to find who has been making these camouflaged bombs," the Chechen Federal Security Service directorate said.