Death Toll Hits 8 in Russia Blasts
July 10, 2000 -- MOSCOW (AP) -- An eighth person has died as a result
of two bomb explosions in southern Russia, the Emergency Situations
Ministry said Monday.In one of Sunday's explosions, a homemade bomb blew up under a car
near an outdoor market in Vladikavkaz [near the center of this map along the
Georgian border, Ordzhonokidze on older maps]. A sixth person has now
died in that case, and 22 are wounded, said Marina Ryklina, an Emergency
Situations Ministry spokeswoman.The other explosion, in a department store in the city of Rostov-on-Don,
killed two people and wounded two others.Vladikavkaz, 940 miles southeast of Moscow, borders on the breakaway
republic of Chechnya, where Russian troops have been battling rebels for
10 months.Law enforcement officials said there was no clear indication that the
Vladikavkaz bomb was connected with Chechnya, although they also did
not rule it out. A bomb in the same marketplace killed more than 50 people
last year, and officials blamed that explosion on Chechen separatists.Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the Kremlin's chief spokesman on Chechnya, said
Monday that the Federal Security Service had received information before
the blast indicating that an attack would occur in the North Caucasus. He
said police had opened two criminal cases into the blast, one for terrorism
and one for premeditated murder.
Russia Braces for Chechen Attacks
July 11, 2000 -- GUDERMES, Russia (AP) -- Bracing for renewed attacks by
Chechen militants, Russian authorities tightened security Tuesday in Moscow
and elsewhere across Russia, and fearful civilians fled large Chechen cities in
anticipation of new fighting.
Seven Dead In Two Blasts In Southern Russia
MOSCOW, Jul 10, 2000 -- (Reuters) Seven people died in two separate bomb
blasts in southern Russia near Chechnya on Sunday, raising fears that Chechen
separatists were extending their guerrilla war beyond the rebel province.Itar-Tass news agency quoted local officials as saying five people had been killed
and 17 wounded in a blast at the central market in Vladikavkaz, scene of a
devastating explosion in March 1999 which killed more than 50 people and
injured over 150.NTV television said two people had died at the scene of the blast, caused by a
bomb equivalent to 250 grams of TNT stuffed with shrapnel, and three more had
died later in hospital.Russian media also reported that two people had been killed and two injured in a
blast in a shop in the town of Rostov-on-Don, further to the north.The deputy head of Rostov's city administration, Yevgeny Shepelev, told Ekho
Moskvy radio that the blast had occurred when a shop assistant tried to open an
abandoned plastic bag he had picked up outside the building.Shepelev said it would take a day or two for police to come to a conclusion
about who was behind the blast, but that he doubted it had been carried out by
Chechen rebels.However, Russian television channels said in reports from Rostov that residents
were linking the blast with Chechnya.NTV commercial television aired footage from Vladikavkaz showing a wrecked
car and the ground nearby spattered with blood and strewn with miscellaneous
objects including a shoe.
Unstable North Caucasus
RTR state television said a bomb had been hidden in a bag left under the car.
Tass said the dead had been killed by pieces of lead packed inside.Officials could not be immediately contacted for comment on either of the blasts,
which came one week after a series of coordinated rebel attacks on Russian
targets inside Chechnya, but security was immediately tightened in the province.Vladikavkaz is the capital of the North Ossetia region and lies about 50 km (30
miles) from Chechnya, where rebel fighters have promised a prolonged partisan
war to drive out Russian troops who are now in control of most of the region.Rostov-on-Don is the base of Viktor Kazantsev, recently appointed as President
Vladimir Putin's representative in the North Caucasus - which includes Chechnya
and North Ossetia - under a shake-up of Russia's regional government.Tensions have been running high in the North Caucasus since last Sunday's
attacks, which included a suicide truck bomb attack on the headquarters of the
special OMON police in the town of Argun, near the Chechen capital Grozny.A total of 33 Russian servicemen died in the attacks, prompting Putin to fly to
North Ossetia to upbraid top officials over what he said was lax security.In his state of the nation address to parliament on Saturday, Putin said Russia's
military campaign in Chechnya was part of efforts to combat "international
terrorism" and said it had helped avert the breakup of the vast nuclear-armed
country.
Russians Urged to Be on Alert for Chechen Attacks
July 12, 2000 - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's FSB domestic security agency
said Wednesday that it feared Chechen rebels were plotting ''terrorist acts'' on
Russian territory and urged all citizens to show greater vigilance.In an unusually frank statement, the FSB -- one of the successor bodies
of the Soviet-era KGB -- said one example of the dangers was the
discovery of large amounts of explosive packed into gas canisters in the
Dagestan region neighboring Chechnya.``The FSB of Russia considers it a duty once again to warn the citizens of
Russia of the reality of threats emanating from Chechen and international
extremists about carrying out terrorist acts on the territory of the
country,'' it said.``(We would) remind people of the necessity for heightened vigilance
against the background of such a complex situation.''The statement said FSB agents had discovered the 10 gas canisters, each
laid out 30 meters (yards) from the other, along a stretch of railway near
the Dagestani village of Gadzhi-aul.They were connected to a motorcycle battery which would have set off
the charge. The canisters, each containing 88 pounds of TNT, would
have been enough to destroy a passing train, the statement said.The FSB said it had little doubt the bomb had been planted by Chechen
rebels.Russia has blamed the guerrillas for a range of attacks outside Chechnya,
including a series of devastating apartment block explosions last autumn
in several Russian cities which killed nearly 300 people.The separatist rebels denied any involvement in the blasts but have
vowed to wage a partisan war against Russian forces in their region.
They have said they plan a repeat of coordinated suicide bombings that
rocked the province earlier this month, killing more than 30 Russian
soldiers and injuring scores.Last weekend, six people were killed in a bomb blast in Vladikavkaz,
capital of the North Ossetia region which also borders Chechnya. Two
other people died in a separate blast in the southern Russian town of
Rostov-on-Don.Months into the war, Russia says it controls most of Chechnya but its
troops have yet to bring the region's southern mountains under control
and tensions have mounted in the province after the upsurge in rebel
attacks.
