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| Caucasus | |
| Builders planted bomb that killed Kadyrov | |
| 2004-05-11 | |
| The pro-Moscow president of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, was buried yesterday as Russian security services hunted the audacious killers who derailed the Kremlin's plans to pacify the region. Attack helicopters swept overhead and soldiers stood guard as Kadyrov's body, covered by a traditional woollen shroud, was carried through his village of Tsentoroi. His son Ramzan, the thuggish leader of a widely feared private army, was one of the pallbearers and later was appointed Chechnya's deputy prime minister. Sappers combed the route taken by thousands of mourners to the local cemetery and a military signal-jamming vehicle countered the danger of remote-controlled bombs. Armed police were posted every 100 yards along one of the main roads through Chechnya to protect officials attending the funeral. "In general, the situation in the republic is under the control of law-enforcement bodies and federal forces," said General Mikhail Pankov, the newly appointed head of Russian troops in Chechnya. He has taken over from Gen Valery Baranov, who was one of 21 people still in hospital yesterday. He was in a serious but stable condition after having a leg amputated. "He's badly injured but says he wants to continue serving in the army, and in Chechnya too," said Gen Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, head of Russia's interior ministry troops. Baranov was sitting next to Kadyrov when the explosion ripped through the stadium's VIP section on Sunday morning. Investigators said a device made from artillery shells was hidden beneath the seating within a concrete beam. Repeated searches by sniffer dogs and sappers failed to find it. Sergei Fridinsky, Russia's deputy general prosecutor, said investigators suspected the involvement of security men in the Dinamo stadium when the bomb went off, or builders who finished repair work there only on Saturday.
Russian officials accused rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev of planning the attack but Maskhadov denied responsibility and blamed Moscow for killing the head of its "puppet government" once he ceased to be of use to it. | |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Good thing they have the rebar-cutting torches handy, they won't have to order them and wait for delivery before starting their "discussions" with the builders |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-11 12:59:03 PM |
| #1 Compared what our "night shift reservists" did to the Iraqis, to what Putin's boys are going to do to the construction workers who were working in the area before the bomb went off in order to "extract" information. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-11 12:42:44 PM |