jarhead
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This from the Associated Press this morning.
I wonder if Putin might join the coalition fighting Islamic terroists with the U.S. as a result of this development.
Last update: August 27, 2004 at 8:50 AM
Explosives traces reportedly found in Russian airliner wreckage
Jim Heintz, Associated Press
August 27, 2004 RUSS0828
MOSCOW -- One of two Russian airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously was brought down by a terrorist act, officials said today, after finding traces of explosives in the plane's wreckage. A Web site connected to Islamic militants claimed the action was connected to Russia's fight against Chechen separatists.
The planes, with 90 people aboard, went down within 20 minutes of each other Tuesday night.
``According to preliminary information, at least one of the air crashes ... has been the result of a terrorist act,'' a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, Sergei Ignatchenko, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
No results from the investigation of the other crash - a Tu-134 with 44 aboard that went down about 120 miles south of Moscow - have been announced.
Another security service spokesman, Nikolai Zakharov, said the explosive found in the remains of a Tu-154 that carried 46 people appeared to be hexogen - an explosive officials said was used in the 1999 apartment bombings that killed some 300 people in Russia, an attack blamed on Chechen separatists. The Tu-154 crashed en route to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
Despite the suspicious timing of the crashes and the fact they took place five days before an election in Chechnya opposed by separatists, Russian officials had kept open the possibility they were caused by bad fuel or human error.
A Web site connected to Islamic militants published a statement today - signed the ``Islambouli Brigades'' - claiming responsibility for the crashes. A group with a similar name has claimed responsibility for at least one other attack, but the authenticity of today's statement could not immediately be confirmed.
The statement said five ``mujahedeen'' - holy fighters - were aboard each plane.
The Federal Security Service declined to comment on the statement.
Russian officials have contended that the rebels fighting Russian forces in Chechnya for nearly five years receive help from foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida. Today's claim did not refer to al-Qaida, but a group called ``the Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida'' claimed responsibility for last month's attempt to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister-designate.
Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
Russian officials, meanwhile, said they were investigating two female passengers - one on each plane - with Chechen names. The two were the only passengers whose relatives did not contact authorities, officials said.
Female suicide bombers with alleged Chechen connections have carried out attacks in Moscow, including the twin bombing of an outdoor rock concert and another blast outside a hotel adjacent to Red Square.
Paul Duffy, a Moscow-based aviation expert, told Associated Press Television that he found it ``hard to believe'' that five attackers were aboard each plane, ``but there is no doubt that they had one at least on each aircraft.''
Both planes took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, one of Russia's most modern and sophisticated. It was not immediately clear how airport security systems could be circumvented to smuggle in explosives.
Although today's developments raised security concerns for the airlines that crisscross the sprawling country, Russia did not order a halt to air traffic, as the United States did after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Web site statement said the planes were brought down as part of ``a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness.''
Chechens on Sunday are to vote for the republic's president, to replace Kremlin-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in a May 9 bomb attack.
Officials had warned that Chechen separatists might try to carry out attacks ahead of the vote, which is part of the Kremlin's strategy of undermining the insurgents by establishing a modicum of civil order in the region.
Security analyst Andrei Soldatov said the reported Chechen connection could bring more suffering to the republic, where Russian forces are widely criticized for abusing and abducting civilians.
``The government will now be able to say that the fight against separatists in Chechnya comes under the roof of international terrorism. As soon as they say that, you can forget about human rights in the region,'' he said.
Details of how the planes were destroyed remained incomplete. News reports said at least one of the planes sent a distress signal indicating a hijacking shortly before it disappeared from radar screens.
That led to speculation that Russian anti-aircraft missiles may have shot down the planes to prevent a Sept. 11-type plan to crash them into buildings. The Tu-154 was en route to Sochi, where Russian President Vladimir Putin was at his summer residence.
However, independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer dismissed that speculation, saying the plane wreckage did not show signs of being shot down and that there are no anti-aircraft missile batteries in the regions where the planes fell.
I wonder if Putin might join the coalition fighting Islamic terroists with the U.S. as a result of this development.
Last update: August 27, 2004 at 8:50 AM
Explosives traces reportedly found in Russian airliner wreckage
Jim Heintz, Associated Press
August 27, 2004 RUSS0828
MOSCOW -- One of two Russian airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously was brought down by a terrorist act, officials said today, after finding traces of explosives in the plane's wreckage. A Web site connected to Islamic militants claimed the action was connected to Russia's fight against Chechen separatists.
The planes, with 90 people aboard, went down within 20 minutes of each other Tuesday night.
``According to preliminary information, at least one of the air crashes ... has been the result of a terrorist act,'' a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, Sergei Ignatchenko, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
No results from the investigation of the other crash - a Tu-134 with 44 aboard that went down about 120 miles south of Moscow - have been announced.
Another security service spokesman, Nikolai Zakharov, said the explosive found in the remains of a Tu-154 that carried 46 people appeared to be hexogen - an explosive officials said was used in the 1999 apartment bombings that killed some 300 people in Russia, an attack blamed on Chechen separatists. The Tu-154 crashed en route to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
Despite the suspicious timing of the crashes and the fact they took place five days before an election in Chechnya opposed by separatists, Russian officials had kept open the possibility they were caused by bad fuel or human error.
A Web site connected to Islamic militants published a statement today - signed the ``Islambouli Brigades'' - claiming responsibility for the crashes. A group with a similar name has claimed responsibility for at least one other attack, but the authenticity of today's statement could not immediately be confirmed.
The statement said five ``mujahedeen'' - holy fighters - were aboard each plane.
The Federal Security Service declined to comment on the statement.
Russian officials have contended that the rebels fighting Russian forces in Chechnya for nearly five years receive help from foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida. Today's claim did not refer to al-Qaida, but a group called ``the Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida'' claimed responsibility for last month's attempt to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister-designate.
Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
Russian officials, meanwhile, said they were investigating two female passengers - one on each plane - with Chechen names. The two were the only passengers whose relatives did not contact authorities, officials said.
Female suicide bombers with alleged Chechen connections have carried out attacks in Moscow, including the twin bombing of an outdoor rock concert and another blast outside a hotel adjacent to Red Square.
Paul Duffy, a Moscow-based aviation expert, told Associated Press Television that he found it ``hard to believe'' that five attackers were aboard each plane, ``but there is no doubt that they had one at least on each aircraft.''
Both planes took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, one of Russia's most modern and sophisticated. It was not immediately clear how airport security systems could be circumvented to smuggle in explosives.
Although today's developments raised security concerns for the airlines that crisscross the sprawling country, Russia did not order a halt to air traffic, as the United States did after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Web site statement said the planes were brought down as part of ``a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness.''
Chechens on Sunday are to vote for the republic's president, to replace Kremlin-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in a May 9 bomb attack.
Officials had warned that Chechen separatists might try to carry out attacks ahead of the vote, which is part of the Kremlin's strategy of undermining the insurgents by establishing a modicum of civil order in the region.
Security analyst Andrei Soldatov said the reported Chechen connection could bring more suffering to the republic, where Russian forces are widely criticized for abusing and abducting civilians.
``The government will now be able to say that the fight against separatists in Chechnya comes under the roof of international terrorism. As soon as they say that, you can forget about human rights in the region,'' he said.
Details of how the planes were destroyed remained incomplete. News reports said at least one of the planes sent a distress signal indicating a hijacking shortly before it disappeared from radar screens.
That led to speculation that Russian anti-aircraft missiles may have shot down the planes to prevent a Sept. 11-type plan to crash them into buildings. The Tu-154 was en route to Sochi, where Russian President Vladimir Putin was at his summer residence.
However, independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer dismissed that speculation, saying the plane wreckage did not show signs of being shot down and that there are no anti-aircraft missile batteries in the regions where the planes fell.
