Train bomb claimed by Chechen separatists
Source: Agencies |
December 3, 2009, Thursday
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CHECHEN rebels yesterday claimed responsibility for last week's Russian train bombing which killed at least 26 people and injured scores of others.
The claim, posted on the Kavkazcenter.com Website, could buttress the suspicions of officials who are tracing the attack to Islamist separatists in Russia's North Caucasus region. It also raises fears of a fresh wave of attacks outside the region after a five-year break - a renewal of violence that would mirror the growing unrest inside the region.
The statement, issued on behalf of Chechen separatist leader Doku Umarov, said Friday's bombing of a Moscow-St Petersburg express train was carried out on his orders.
"We declare that this operation was prepared and carried out pursuant to the order of the Emir of Caucasus Emirate," or Umarov, the statement said.
Umarov is thought to head a network of separatist cells across Russia's volatile and mainly Muslim North Caucasus region who are fighting to break free from Moscow's rule.
The rebels are blamed for regular attacks on law enforcement officials in the region's five autonomous republics since the end of two bloody separatist wars in Chechnya.
Russian authorities have said the train's derailment was an act of terrorism and traces of explosives and a crater were found at the disaster site. Government officials were among those killed in the bombing.
It was the first deadly terrorist attack outside the North Caucasus since the bombings of two airliners and a Moscow subway station attack in 2004.
About 1,500 people gathered for a state-sanctioned anti-terrorism rally in St Petersburg yesterday.
Participants in the protest, organized by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, held banners, with slogans including "Terrorists are not people" and "Find and annihilate."
Rights activists say militant attacks in the Caucasus - such as August's bombing of a police station in the capital of Ingushetia which claimed more than 20 lives - are the bitter fruit of a brutal counterterrorism campaign.
No arrests have been made in connection with the attack on the luxury Nevsky Express, which occurred 400 kilometers northwest of Moscow and 250 kilometers southeast of St Petersburg.
The claim, posted on the Kavkazcenter.com Website, could buttress the suspicions of officials who are tracing the attack to Islamist separatists in Russia's North Caucasus region. It also raises fears of a fresh wave of attacks outside the region after a five-year break - a renewal of violence that would mirror the growing unrest inside the region.
The statement, issued on behalf of Chechen separatist leader Doku Umarov, said Friday's bombing of a Moscow-St Petersburg express train was carried out on his orders.
"We declare that this operation was prepared and carried out pursuant to the order of the Emir of Caucasus Emirate," or Umarov, the statement said.
Umarov is thought to head a network of separatist cells across Russia's volatile and mainly Muslim North Caucasus region who are fighting to break free from Moscow's rule.
The rebels are blamed for regular attacks on law enforcement officials in the region's five autonomous republics since the end of two bloody separatist wars in Chechnya.
Russian authorities have said the train's derailment was an act of terrorism and traces of explosives and a crater were found at the disaster site. Government officials were among those killed in the bombing.
It was the first deadly terrorist attack outside the North Caucasus since the bombings of two airliners and a Moscow subway station attack in 2004.
About 1,500 people gathered for a state-sanctioned anti-terrorism rally in St Petersburg yesterday.
Participants in the protest, organized by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, held banners, with slogans including "Terrorists are not people" and "Find and annihilate."
Rights activists say militant attacks in the Caucasus - such as August's bombing of a police station in the capital of Ingushetia which claimed more than 20 lives - are the bitter fruit of a brutal counterterrorism campaign.
No arrests have been made in connection with the attack on the luxury Nevsky Express, which occurred 400 kilometers northwest of Moscow and 250 kilometers southeast of St Petersburg.
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