Article

2010-03-30 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Police in Moscow were tonight searching for female accomplices of two women suicide bombers who killed at least 37 people and injured 65 by targeting two packed tube trains during the busy rush hour.

Analysis of CCTV footage inside the Red Arrow underground trains of the two suicide bombers has revealed they were accompanied by two other women.

Their faces were not destroyed in the explosion, increasing the chance of successfully identifying them, and video from other cameras in Moscow Metro stations has also helped identify the faces of the two women who accompanied them and a man.

President Dmitry Medvedev declared Russia would act 'without compromise' to root out terrorists as he ordered airports to be put on alert and security to be stepped up throughout the country.

The two bombs are the worst attack on the Russian capital for six years and no group has yet claimed responsibility.

But suspicion has fallen on Muslim militants from the North Caucasus, where the Kremlin is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency spreading from Chechnya to neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia's Federal Security Service, said the terrorists were likely to have been 'black widows', Muslim women radicalised by the situation in the North Caucasus.

'Body parts belonging to two female suicide bombers were found and, according to initial data, these persons are linked to the north Caucasus,' he said.

Analysts said the involvement of women was similar to the 'black widows' in Checnya - women who had lost brothers or husbands to Russian forces in the Chechen conflict.

News reports have linked the women, also known as Shahidka, to embattled northern Caucuses and the Shahidka movement that first emerged in 2000.

The term is a feminine derivative of shahid, Arabic for 'witness' or 'martyr'.

They are generally young, often teenagers, and are dressed from head to toe in black mourning clothes.

Police are tonight expected to publish CCTV images of the suicide bombers, along with two women of 'Slav appearance' who accompanied them.

Witnesses spoke of panic at the two underground stations this morning after the blasts as people fell over each other in dense smoke and dust, trying to escape.

In scenes that will have been chillingly familiar to Londoners after the July 7 bombings in 2005, bloodied and injured passengers emerged onto the streets looking bewildered.

The first explosion tore through the second carriage of a metro train just before 8am as it stood at the Lubyanka station, close to the headquarters of Russia's main domestic security service FSB. It killed at least 23 people.

About 40 minutes later, another blast in the second carriage of a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station, opposite Gorky Park, killed 12 to 14 more people.

Both bombers wore explosive belts packed with bolts and iron rods to maximise casualties.

'It was very scary. I saw a dead body,' said Valentin Popov, a 19-year-old student travelling on a train to the Park Kultury station.

'Everyone was screaming. There was a stampede at the doors. I saw one woman holding a child and pleading with people to let her through, but it was impossible.'

A commuter said: 'I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body.'

The female suicide bombers are believed to have boarded the train at Yugo-Zapadnaya station in southwest Moscow.

One passenger told the RIA news agency: 'I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body.

'People were yelling like hell. There was a lot of smoke and in about two minutes everything was covered in smoke.'

Another called Alexei added: 'I was moving up on the escalator when I heard a loud bang, a blast. A door near the passage way arched, was ripped out and a cloud of dust came down on the escalator.

'People started running, panicking, falling on each other,' he said.

Some of the injured were airlifted to emergency hospitals in helicopters. Dozens of commuters were helped from each station to waiting ambulances.

Surveillance camera footage posted on the internet showed several motionless bodies lying on the floor or slumped against the wall in Lubyanka station lobby and emergency workers crouched over victims, trying to treat them.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters that female suicide bombers had carried out the attacks.

Prosecutors said they had opened a 'terrorism investigation' after forensic experts found the remains of a female bomber.

The Russian rouble fell to 34.25 from 34.13 against the central bank's euro-dollar basket, on concern the blasts could indicate the start of a bombing campaign against Russian cities.

Russian equity markets were little changed, with the rouble denominated MICEX index up 0.04 percent.

Medvedev ordered officials to fight terrorism 'without hesitation, to the end'.

In a nod to accusations of Russian troops acting with brutality against civilians in Chechnya, he said human rights must be respected during police operations.

The President will make a statement to the nation later today, according to a Kremlin source.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cut short a visit to Siberia and vowed that everything would be done to catch the killers.

He said: 'A crime that is terrible in its consequences and heinous in its manner has been committed.

'I am confident that law enforcement bodies will spare no effort to track down and punish the criminals. Terrorists will be destroyed.'

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the bombings as did European Union leaders.

'The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life, and we condemn these outrageous acts,' Obama said.

Gordon Brown was 'appalled' by the attacks and has sent a message of 'condolence and support' to Medvedev, Downing Street said.

The current death toll makes it the worst attack on Moscow since February 2004, when a suicide bombing killed at least 39 people and wounded more than 100 on a metro train.

Chechen separatists were blamed for that attack and suspicions are likely to focus on the North Caucasus where rebel leader Doku Umarov, who is fighting for an Islamic emirate embracing the whole region, vowed on Feb 15 to take the war to Russian cities.

'Blood will no longer be limited to our (Caucasus) cities and towns. The war is coming to their cities,' the Chechen rebel leader said in an interview on the unofficial Islamist website.

The Chechen rebellion began in the 1990s as a largely ethnic nationalist movement, fired by a sense of injustice over the transportation of Chechens to Central Asia, with enormous loss of life, by dictator Josef Stalin.

In recent years, Russian officials say Islamic militants from outside Russia have joined the campaign lending it a new intensity.

Russian leaders had declared victory in their battle with Chechen separatists who fought two wars with Moscow.

But while violence subsided in Chechnya, it has spread and intensified in neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia, where clan rivalries overlap with criminal gangs and Islamist militants.

Vladimir Putin cemented his power in 1999 in launching an ultimately successful war to overthrow a separatist government lodged in the Chechen capital Grozny.

Russian leaders fear the loss of this region endangering energy transit routes could destabilise other areas in a country spanning 11 time zones.

The Moscow subway system is one of the world's busiest, carrying around seven million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city.

The blasts practically paralysed movement on the city centre's main roads, as emergency vehicles sped to the stations.

Helicopters hovered overhead the Park Kultury station area, which is next to the city's renowned Gorky Park.

Passengers, many of them in tears, streamed out of the station, one man exclaiming over and over: 'This is how we live!'

Posted by Fred 2010-03-30 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top
File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

#1 something tells me that there won't be a lot of agonizing over reading of rights or worrying about waterboarding or whatever is done to find out what is is really going on and to root out Mr. Big.

Obumble might want to take notes. or something.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2010-03-30 00:38|| 2010-03-30 00:38|| Front Page Top

#2 There faces were intact, yet one carried an est. 4 kilos and the other an est. 2 kilos of TNT and detinated it in an enclosed rail car. They were identified as "north caucasian" before any official investigation/autopsy was undertaken. Something seems too easy here. Is it possible for your face to remain intact after detinating 2+ kilos of TNT under your chin(on a vest presumably)?

Posted by jefe101 2010-03-30 02:01|| 2010-03-30 02:01|| Front Page Top

#3 Obumble might want to take notes.

Offer those captured a choice:

A definite 100 waterboarding sessions at the hands of the CIA, or 1 session at the tender mercies of whatever spetznaz happens to come their or their families' way.

Posted by gorb 2010-03-30 02:06|| 2010-03-30 02:06|| Front Page Top

#4 Check yourself before you wish for the Russians to go Roman. Best to not stick our big toe in a conflict that is 200 years old. Did anyone cry when the chechen nation was relocated to the Stan's during WWII? Did anyone cry when Grozny was obliterated? Well as I recall the Western world didn't have much to say. The Chechen's apparently don't bow down as easily as say the Iroquois, Sioux or the Apache. So what I am wondering is is this a civil war waged by a people with apparent little chance of victory (like the Vietnamese) against a mighty enemy, or are these just random nutjobs holed up in hideouts killing Russians for Allah. It seems to me they have a reason to be pissed. It would be a mistake to blur the WOT and just include "the bad guy of the week", we would then lose focus.

Posted by jefe101 2010-03-30 02:53|| 2010-03-30 02:53|| Front Page Top

#5 If these douchebags believe in Allah, and all the stuff that goes with it, then they are the bad guys, end of story.

Posted by Dave UK 2010-03-30 04:35|| 2010-03-30 04:35|| Front Page Top

#6 Whether or not they believe in Allah, which they do, you need to check yo history my friend. If your people had been in a constant state of conflict, that is your great great grandfather, your great grandfather, your grandfather, your father, you (you died in the 90's), your son and your grandson (that only covers 6 generations, so add 4 more "greats" if you want). If your grandmother told you stories of the deportation, half a million people, your entire nation. yadda yadda yadda. It does not take a genious to see why Chechens, and N. Caucasian peoples, are totally pissed at the Russians. It is more about nationality and statehood than Allah. Chechens are not Arabs! But the are fighers, so at times they will sell their services to the highest bidder. So this may not be about religion for Chechens, there are some Arabs in their ranks which they tollerate because they need money to fund their activity. But it would be a mistake to draw a parallel between Taliban in Afghanistan and Chechen in Russia.

Posted by jefe101 2010-03-30 05:01|| 2010-03-30 05:01|| Front Page Top

#7 Not to be a bore, but if the population of your country, your people, was est. 1.1 million today. During the Second Chechen War you lost est. 25k to 200,k Chechen dead. You might be a little pissed. Why such a wide gap in the est. dead, you can thank the Russians for that. Black Widows or White Stockings, Russians love (and fear) a lethal woman. One thing I know, Russians love to blame the boogeyman (Chechens) for anything bad.

Posted by jefe101 2010-03-30 05:31|| 2010-03-30 05:31|| Front Page Top

#8 Is it possible for your face to remain intact after detinating 2+ kilos of TNT under your chin(on a vest presumably)? Posted by jefe101

Yes in fact it is. The head oftentimes pops off like a cork in a champaign bottle, landing a few meters away.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-03-30 06:18|| 2010-03-30 06:18|| Front Page Top

#9 What jefe trying to say Dave is that you over simplify. Why can't you understand that there are many different kind of Muslims---each with it's own reasons for killing infidels!!!

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-03-30 06:33|| 2010-03-30 06:33|| Front Page Top

#10 I have seen a couple of gruesome photos which speak to the effect Besoeker describes... The head and feet were intact. Everything else, get a sponge.

Posted by Free Radical 2010-03-30 06:36|| 2010-03-30 06:36|| Front Page Top

#11 The Russians have an incredible knack for getting into fights with people even more detestable than themselves, thus drawing otherwise undeserved sympathy from the civilized world.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2010-03-30 07:06|| 2010-03-30 07:06|| Front Page Top

#12 Special teaching point: Cycle of ethnic hate fully explained in cmnts #4 and #6. This material is testable.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-03-30 07:11|| 2010-03-30 07:11|| Front Page Top

#13 During the Second Chechen War you lost est. 25k to 200,k Chechen dead. You might be a little pissed.

Good one.

"He wasn't northern Caucasian...

"Okay, he was but he has every right to commit and act of terrorism."

Helluva spread in the war dead statistics, too.

You'd think you'd might find 250k graves, mass or otherwise.

Chechen war dead has been inflated for a long, long time. Seems the Chechen cause is inflated in self importance as well.

Seems all it takes is several undefended citizens to make a cause just.

I wonder what Colonel Budinov would say about all this?

Posted by badanov 2010-03-30 07:42|| http://www.freefirezone.org 2010-03-30 07:42|| Front Page Top

#14 The Russians think that the Chechens are evil bastards.

The Chechens think that the Russians are evil bastards.

I must say I can't find fault with either position.

Posted by Steve White 2010-03-30 07:54|| 2010-03-30 07:54|| Front Page Top

#15 The Chechens lost every scrap of sympathy I had for them after Beslan - and I did have some; NPR was always banging on and on about them, the poor, pitiful ethnics being picked on (snf!) by the central government.
Now when it comes to Russians and Chechens, I'm wondering if there is a way they both can lose...

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2010-03-30 08:53|| http://www.celiahayes.com 2010-03-30 08:53|| Front Page Top

#16 After reading what Jefe101 said, I would agree that local/ancestral issues very much domninate the russian/chechen conflict. Islam comes into play because it does not have the "forgive your enemy/pray for your enemies" option that Christianity promotes. Martin Luther King mostly succeeded because he explicitly BANKED on that option within the largely Christian white American majority. The current black leadership denies it exists because they need the conflict to create the need for their positions.

Communism doesn't have that option either, and would leverage any such option as weakness, just as Islam does, so "fight it out" both sides must....

Posted by Ptah 2010-03-30 08:56|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org 2010-03-30 08:56|| Front Page Top

#17 I've been following this bunch on and off since Djokar Dudaev. They lost me when Shamil hit the maternity hospital. Nord-Ost was disgusting. And there's a special place in hell for the people who devastated Beslan.

What used to be the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region is now Chechnya and Ingushetia because one of the two groups is genetically nutz. That fact that they're in alliance with al-Qaeda doesn't change anything but the odor.

Will the Russers flatten Grozny again? I don't particularly care if they do. I don't like the Russians generically but they're best friends compared to what I feel for the Chechens.

I occasionally dwell on the symbolism of the fact that "grozny" is Russian for "terrible."

Posted by Fred 2010-03-30 11:33|| 2010-03-30 11:33|| Front Page Top

#18 Jefe's narrative has a few gaps. First, the West, especially European human rights activists including prominent French politicians, throughout the pre-Putin era castigated Russia's unbelievably brutal handling of the Chechen rebellion. When Putin began assassinating journalists who'd reported on Chechnya, and after Putin attained a degree of quiet in the region, the western protestors called it quits.

Second, the nationalist Chechen rebellion became islamicized in the last decade with the arrival of arab islamist fighters, many of them funded by the same Saudis who financed Al Qaeda. It's no longer about nationality or territory. It is now part of the same struggle that animates the Taliban and AQ.

The Russians have made many errors, and their methods shouldn't be our methods. But we should be on their side in this one.

Posted by lex 2010-03-30 11:34|| 2010-03-30 11:34|| Front Page Top

#19 Russia has always been a split personality. Part Asian, part European. Lately, if memory serves, there has been a push towards the Asian side to differentiate themselves after the Cold War and all that. i wonder if that will change towards Europe if the Caucasus continue to broil.

Personally I think if Russia used diplomacy instead of thuggish tactics they could become the big-brother, defacto leader of the Europeans.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-03-30 12:32|| 2010-03-30 12:32|| Front Page Top

#20 That would be possible if the pro-western, well-educated, relatively honest and transparent Russian liberals like Nemtsov and Kasparov were ever to attain power. But Russian liberals are weak, small in number, hopelessly fragmented and quarreling. Putin crushes them with ease.

Putin is essentially a gangster-bandit. He doesn't give a damn about national greatness or any other national interest. It's about his loot, which numbers in the tens of billions.

Posted by lex 2010-03-30 13:32|| 2010-03-30 13:32|| Front Page Top

#21 Here's my understanding of some of this. Some years ago the Russians loaded a quarter of the Chechen men into trains one day and carted them off to Siberia like cattle. Many died along the way. If this is true, I can understand the animosity.

These days, there are many womenfolk around with no related men to vouch for their virginity, and are therefore "useless". They make great fodder for those looking for suicide bombers because they believe as a martyr they will head straight to heaven as the first wife of a 72-woman harem, a place otherwise unattainable.

I don't know why there are so many women around with no male relatives. Is it because of recent fighting?

Posted by gorb 2010-03-30 13:44|| 2010-03-30 13:44|| Front Page Top

#22 This goes way back before Stalin's time, to the 19c Romanov czars' time. The Russians have been fighting islamic warlords for centuries. Tolstoy's greatest short story/novella, "Hadji Murat", details one of the caucasian/chechen warlords' struggles against the Russians in the mid-19c.

Posted by lex 2010-03-30 14:28|| 2010-03-30 14:28|| Front Page Top

#23 The book on Chechnya I read said that Stalin transplanted nearly the entire population of Chechnya to Khazakstan (how is that even possible?) and that under Gorbichev or Yeltsin they were allowed to return.

Also a large number of veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan were Chechnyans. So they were exposed to Jihadist thought and trained in various military techniques. Then eventually when the independence movement started the Russians decided to send in Draftees against these Chechnyan vets. The victory that resulted created a lot of momentum amung Chechnyan nationalists.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-03-30 16:02|| 2010-03-30 16:02|| Front Page Top

#24 Of course they also worked with Kim Jung Ill, but Team America put an end to that thankfully.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-03-30 16:03|| 2010-03-30 16:03|| Front Page Top

#25 I've been following this bunch on and off since Djokar Dudaev. They lost me when Shamil hit the maternity hospital. Nord-Ost was disgusting. And there's a special place in hell for the people who devastated Beslan.

What used to be the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region is now Chechnya and Ingushetia because one of the two groups is genetically nutz. That fact that they're in alliance with al-Qaeda doesn't change anything but the odor.

Will the Russers flatten Grozny again? I don't particularly care if they do. I don't like the Russians generically but they're best friends compared to what I feel for the Chechens.

I occasionally dwell on the symbolism of the fact that "grozny" is Russian for "terrible."

Now I remember why I read this site.

Posted by Shipman 2010-03-30 17:29|| 2010-03-30 17:29|| Front Page Top

#26 Anybody who fought the Nazis is good guy in my book. Anybody who fights Islam is good guy in my book.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-03-30 19:15|| 2010-03-30 19:15|| Front Page Top

#27 Y'all prompt me to ask, Did the Nazis have anything to do with the Muslims?

Or were they on the Nazi's "Kill'em all" list?

Posted by Redneck Jim 2010-03-30 21:52|| 2010-03-30 21:52|| Front Page Top

#28 Nazis supported the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Yassir Arafat's great uncle or somesuch) and some of the Pashas in Iraq.

Amin Al Husseini is founder and President of the World Islamic Congress, and he meet with Heinrich Himmler, and supported the SS.

Pictures here

Does that answer your question about where the Nazis stood on Islam - and what Islam got fromt he Nazis?

Posted by OldSpook 2010-03-30 22:25|| 2010-03-30 22:25|| Front Page Top

#29 RJ, Muslims were enthusiastic supporters of Nazism. Hitler formed some SS units exclusively from Bosnian muslims, they were among his most fanatical troops. Bonus trivia: the word Iran comes from the same root as Aryan, a literal translation of Iran is "land of the Aryans".

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2010-03-30 22:44|| 2010-03-30 22:44|| Front Page Top

#30 The Nazis also had a nicely murderous Muslim unit of Bosnians, if I recall correctly. You do want to google that, Redneck Jim, before you quote me.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-03-30 22:48|| 2010-03-30 22:48|| Front Page Top

#31 Scooter beat me to it, and is more right. Well done!

Posted by trailing wife 2010-03-30 23:55|| 2010-03-30 23:55|| Front Page Top

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