Moscow- At least five people were killed in the explosion of a mini-van on Thursday in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, just across the border from South Ossetia where Russia fought a war with Georgia in August, news agencies reported

Another five people were injured in the blast outside the entrance to a movie theater and market on Kuibysheva street in the populous southern Russian city, a police source told Interfax.

Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, is the base for Russia's 58th army which deployed into Georgia's separatists region of South Ossetia in August to push back a Georgian assault to retake the region.

It is separate by the 4-kilometre Roki tunnel from the ethnical- like region to the South. (dpa)