Toll Climbs to 41 in Suicide Bomb Attack Near Chechnya
MOSCOW — The death toll rose to at least 41 in a suicide bomb attack Friday on a commuter train near war-torn Chechnya. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin called the blast a futile effort to sow disorder on the eve of elections.
“The crime committed today is undoubtedly an attempt to destabilize the situation†before Sunday’s parliamentary balloting in Russia, Putin said in televised remarks made during a meeting with law enforcement officials. “I’m sure the criminals will not succeed.â€
Three women and one man are believed to have carried out the morning bombing, which largely destroyed one coach of the train, said Nikolai P. Patrushev, director of the Federal Security Service during the meeting with Putin.
“Two of the women jumped off the train just before the explosion. One of them was injured but will not likely survive,†Patrushev said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “The fragments of a male body have been found. Hand grenades were attached to his legs. The man was the suicide attacker.â€
Television coverage showed the devastated second coach of the train, its remains a mangled mass of metal. The attack took place near the town of Yessentuki in southern Russia’s Stavropol region.
“I would tie this crime, as one of the possible leads, to the activities of Chechen terrorists,†Justice Minister Yuri Chaika told the Interfax news agency.
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, who also is a leader of United Russia, the pro-Putin party expected to place first in Sunday’s balloting, told a meeting of World War II veterans: “We’ll find those who have committed this act of terror. The land will burn under their feet. These beasts will not feel themselves safe.â€
Putting an openly political spin on his comments, Gryzlov declared that Putin wants to build “a lasting peace†in the Caucasus region but that this “enrages those who don’t want a strong government.†United Russia’s basic platform is to build a stronger government by supporting Putin.
Stanislav Belkovsky, general director of the National Strategy Council, a Moscow think tank, said he did not believe the attack would influence how people vote.
“People are used to hearing about acts of terror in the north Caucasus,†he said. “If a terrorist act of such dimensions happened in Moscow or some other big city of central Russia, then it would have a bigger political impact. But the way things are, for the public at large nothing extraordinary has happened that could be strong enough to change their election preferences.â€
NTV television reported that the Stavropol region has seen 11 terrorist acts in the past 18 months. One was the Sept. 3 bombing of a train packed with students on their way to school. Six died and more than 50 were wounded in that incident.
Many students also died in Friday’s blast, which the Emergency Situations Ministry said injured 155 people in addition to those killed.
Pro-Kremlin Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov condemned the attackers in bitter terms that hinted at the brutality of the conflict between separatist rebels and Russian forces.
“I don’t know how the individuals who plan and perpetrate acts of terrorism directed against civilians, women, children and old men can be regarded as humans, how they can be tried as humans or treated as humans,†Kadyrov said in comments reported by Interfax.
International human rights organizations say that abuses by Moscow’s troops in Chechnya have triggered much of the anger that inspires the insurgency.
Chechens exercised self-rule in their Caucasus republic after defeating Russian troops in a 1994-96 war. Russian forces returned in 1999 and have faced resistance since. Aslan Maskhadov, who won Chechnya’s presidency in 1997, is now a rebel leader. Representatives of his faction denied any involvement in Friday’s attack through a message on their Internet site.
Patrushev said at the meeting with Putin that authorities have headed off numerous terrorist attacks and recently arrested, tried and sentenced 29 people involved in planning attacks, and 19 have been killed while resisting detention. No details were reported.
Putin said Friday’s attack demonstrated that “international terrorism, which has presented a challenge to many countries of the world, continues to remain a serious threat to our country as well.... It is a cruel, crafty and dangerous enemy. It is first of all innocent people who suffer from its crimes.â€
The United States also condemned the attack.
Russian Air Force Gen. Igor Maltsev said in an interview that Friday’s blast was an example of “classic guerrilla warfare†by organized terrorists.
“These trains are the easiest targets,†he said. “You can easily pretend that you are a simple farmer going to a town market and get on such a train somewhere at a provincial stop where the train stops for one minute and where no one would bother to check your bag full of explosives.†He predicted that “such explosions will continue until the resistance fighters themselves realize it is leading nowhere and put down arms. But I am afraid the way things are now, it can go on for years.â€
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Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.
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