Officials at the site of the blast in Vladikavkaz. (AFP)

Vladikavkaz (Russia), Sept. 9 (Reuters): A suicide bomber set off a powerful blast near a busy market in Russia’s restive North Caucasus today, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens, authorities said.

The attacker detonated a bomb packed with metal bars, bolts and ball bearings in a car outside the entrance to the market in Vladikavkaz, capital of North Ossetia province, the Russian prosecutor general’s Investigative Committee said.

A Reuters witness saw at least five bloodied bodies lying among scattered vegetables and shattered glass near the market entrance, around 10 metres from a burning car. “Where is the ambulance?” a woman said, sobbing.