Chechen rebels behind blast?

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, AUG 9. Russian authorities fear more terrorist attacks after a powerful blast killed seven and injured over 90 people in a Moscow underpass on Tuesday.

The bomb containing an estimated 1.5-2 kg of TNT was left in a plastic bag by two young men of Caucasian appearance, witnesses said. It ripped through a crowded underpass situated within a kilometre from the Kremlin at rush hour, hurling people against glass-and-metal kiosks that lined the walkway. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Mayor of Moscow, Mr. Yuri Luzhkov, blamed it on Chechen rebels.

The Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, who has personally taken charge of an investigation, urged caution in identifying the culprits, but he too linked the blast with a year-long military operation against Chechen separatists. ``We must carry through the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus to the end,'' the Russian leader said in televised remarks on Wednesday. ``This is necessary in order to finish off terrorists in their lair.''

Chechnya's breakaway President, Mr. Aslan Maskhadov, denied any involvement by rebel forces in Tuesday's blast, but security officials said the Chechen connection was being investigated. Russian television showed sketches of four suspects in the bombing compiled by Moscow police, with two men distinctly looking like Chechens.

The first deputy chief of the Federal Security Service, Mr. Vladimir Pronichev, told Russian television that investigators were giving ``special attention'' to the Chechen trace, but were not ruling out other possibilities, such as a showdown between rival criminal gangs. Moscow police has been put on alert and the Emergency Situations Minister, Mr. Sergei Shoigu called on Russians ``to re-establish the system of vigilance that was introduced last year,'' after a series of powerful bombs levelled several blocks of flats in Moscow and other Russian cities, killing close to 300 people. Security services blamed the blasts on Chechens, but are yet to apprehend the bombers.

Tuesday's explosion came a year after a resumption of fighting in North Caucasus and just two days after the fourth anniversary of what the Chechens mark as Independence Day. Officials urged Russians to brace themselves for more possible attacks. ``We must realise that we are living in the capital of a warring country,'' said Mr. Alexander Muzikantsky, head of the Moscow district where the blast went off.

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Section  : International
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