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December’s twin suicide bomb attacks in Volgograd, Russia, brought to the fore the threat of Islamist terror in the North Caucasus region. Now the Olympic Games, scheduled to begin Feb. 7 at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, present a perfect terrorist target.

Notorious Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov — a self-styled Islamist radical and Russia’s most wanted man  — has called on his supporters to target the international event to be attended by thousands of athletes and spectators. In response, Russia is moving to heighten security ahead of the games to counter a regional threat that has persisted, and mutated, for decades.
On Dec. 29, a blast from a 22-pound bomb at Volgograd’s main train station killed 18 people. Less than a day later, 17 people were killed when an explosion demolished a trolley bus during morning rush hour.
On Jan. 9, six bodies were found in four vehicles rigged with improvised explosive devices near the Caucasus Mountains. While no group immediately claimed responsibility for these incidents, suspicion quickly fell on Chechen separatist groups. On Jan. 15, three Russian security personnel and four gunmen, including a man accused of executing a deadly car bomb attack in Pyatigorsk late last year, died in a shootout in Karlanyurt, Dagestan, during an anti-terrorist operation, according to Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee.

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