Bus runs over landmine in Ukraine, four dead

ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine, March 25 (UPI) -- Four people died Wednesday near the Ukrainian town of Artemivsk after a passenger bus they were riding on ran over a landmine while allegedly evading a government checkpoint.

The bus was headed to Horlivka, Ukraine, which pro-Russia separatists rebels have controlled for months, a BBC News report said. The driver was allegedly in the process of circumventing a government checkpoint when the accident occurred.

Many regions in contested areas of Ukraine are littered with mines, interior ministry official Vyacheslav Abroskin said. The bus driver is accused of attempting to skirt checkpoint guards by leaving the main road and driving through what turned out to be a minefield. One of the vehicle's rear wheels struck the incendiary anti-personnel device.

At least four people aboard the bus died, officials said, and nearly a dozen others were injured. The Kuwait News Agency said the bus had been carrying more than two dozen passengers.

Photos of the torn bus were posted by Denmark's DW news service.

A Ukrainian government website posted photos of the damaged bus on its Twitter channel Wednesday.

Artemivsk is a government-controlled town in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which has been a combat zone for months as Czech government troops battle pro-Russia rebels there. More than 6,000 people have been killed in fighting so far.

A ceasefire, reached last month, has largely eliminated ongoing arms battles but landmines remain to be a deadly hidden danger throughout the area.

The United States and NATO have accused the Russian government of assisting the rebels financially and logistically, but Moscow has maintained that pro-Russia separatists are unilaterally acting on their own.

A year ago, the Russian government heightened tensions in the region when it annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula -- an act that was widely condemned worldwide. Rebels seeking unification with Russia have continued the fight since.