Mozdok

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Map of North Ossetia, Russia

Mozdok (Russian: Моздо́к; Ossetian: Мæздæг) is a town in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in southern Russia. The name of the town literally means "dense forest" in the Kabardian language.

Mozdok was founded in 1759; the town status was granted in 1785. Prince Potemkin founded the fortress in 1763, settling 517 families of Volga Cossacks in stanitsas around it. Five sotnyas formed the Mozodksky Regiment, guarding a line of eighty versts along the Terek. Another hundred families were sent from the Don.[2] Mozdok is the administrative center of Mozdoksky District. It is located on the left shore of the Terek River, 92 km north of Vladikavkaz, the republic's capital. Population: 42,865 (2002 Census); 38,037 (1989 Census).

In June 2003, a suicide bomber caused havoc in the town, when a bus full of Russian air force personnel was destroyed when it was rammed by the bomber's car. On August 1 of the same year, a military hospital in the city was targeted by a suicide bomber driving a large truck bomb. The building was substantially damaged, and over fifty people were killed in the blast. These attacks are just two of a string of attacks on Russian facilities in Mozdok since the start of the Second Chechen War.