The Hindu : International : Terrorist network active in Russia, says expert

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Monday, Sep 13, 2004

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International

Terrorist network active in Russia, says expert

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, SEPT. 12. The latest wave of terrorist attacks in Russia points to the existence of a ramified terrorist network in the country, an anti-terror expert said.

"We are convinced that the extremist network covers at least two-thirds of Russia and can be mobilised to full combat readiness at any moment," a security service source told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily. "They are capable of simultaneously striking in most major cities of the country."

The expert was commenting on an unprecedented spate of Chechen-linked terrorist attacks in Russia between August 24 and September 1 that claimed over 450 lives. It began with the downing of two airliners, continued with a suicide bomb blast near a Moscow metro station and climaxed with the seizure of over 1,200 persons at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. The terrorist network has its roots in an array of extremist religious organisations that sprang up in Russia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Last year, Russia's Supreme Court banned 15 Islamist groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Hizbul-Tahrir al-Islami and Islamic Brotherhood. However, the situation has since become worse, the security service source said.

"The extremist groups have gone underground and organisers of terrorist attacks have used this to their advantage," the Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted the source as saying. Russia has about 20 million Muslims, which makes them the second biggest ethnic group after Russians.

The Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, on Sunday described terrorists active in Russia as "very serious forces."

"They are well-organised, effectively controlled and have very substantial financial resources," Mr. Ivanov said in a TV interview. "The latest series of terrorist acts ... shows that the (terror) war is acquiring a systematic character and involves very serious forces."

The Russian terrorist underground linked to international extremist organisations is especially active in the North Caucasus, where Moscow has been fighting Chechen separatists for 10 years now. Drawing on Islamic fundamentalists in neighbouring regions, Chechen rebels have mounted a number of high profile attacks in the North Caucasus. In 1999, local Islamists helped Chechen militants stage a massive invasion of Dagestan. It took the Russian army six weeks to oust the rebels.

In June this year, a bloody rebel attack on Ingushetia revealed the existence of Ingush Islamic radicals, the so-called "Ingush Jamaat." In August, security services for several days battled a group of militants in Kabardino-Balkaria, another North Caucasian region of Russia.

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