|
Blast in Russia killed 17 |
updated 10-8-99
RUSSIA/CHECHNYA
TERRORISM LEADS TO WAR
|
|
Blast in Russia killed 17 |
Russia Batters Chechnya Killing 32
By RUSLAN MUSAYEV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (AP) (October 8, 1999)- Russian tanks and artillery battered Chechnya on Friday after an air attack on a village caught people by surprise during midday prayers, reportedly killing dozens.
In Elistanzhi, a village in the mountains near Chechnya's southern border, the streets were filled with sobbing Friday as villagers collected body parts of the victims of the Russian air attack, eyewitnesses said.
Villagers said Russian planes attacked Elistanzhi, 30 miles southeast of Grozny, on Thursday during midday Muslim prayers and kept up the bombardment for more than two hours.
Village administrator Ismail Dagayev told The Associated Press that 32 people were killed - including an entire family of eight - 60 others injured and 200 houses destroyed.
The Russian military on Friday declined to comment on the claims.
Russia has said its attacks on Chechnya are aimed solely at Islamic militants who twice invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan this summer and who are blamed for a series of September apartment explosions in Russia that killed 300 people.
But Chechen officials charge that hundreds of civilians have been killed, and Elistanzhi residents echoed the complaints, saying the village never housed militants.
``We just live here, growing potatoes, corn and tobacco,'' said village mullah Yusup Khadzhi.
The air attack came after 40 people were reportedly killed Tuesday when a Russian tank fired on a bus crowded with men, women and children trying to flee Chechnya.
The sounds of heavy shelling were heard Friday near the villages of Bamut and Arshty along Chechnya's western border with Ingushetia as Russian forces established positions inside the rebel republic.
Russia says it wants a security zone around Chechnya to keep militants from infiltrating neighboring regions. Russian troops occupy the northern third of the republic, which is relatively flat and has open ground, and have not crossed into the woods and mountains south of the Terek River.
The Russian commander in Chechnya, Col. Gen. Viktor Kazaktsev, told The Associated Press that troops ``definitely plan'' to cross the Terek, but he declined to say when.
In the 1994-96 war in Chechnya, outnumbered Chechen fighters fought the vast Russian army to a humiliating standstill in devastating street battles in Grozny and guerrilla actions in the hills.
Russia says its losses in the latest fighting have been relatively light. Col. Gen. Valery Manilov, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said Friday that 20 to 30 soldiers have been killed.
The end of the war in 1996 left Chechnya technically still part of Russia, but effectively independent. Chechens elected a president and parliament in 1997. The Kremlin now refuses to regard the Chechen government as legitimate and instead recognizes a newly organized Chechen State Council, formed by Russian authorities and members of a largely pro-Russian Chechen parliament that was elected in 1996.
The head of the council, Malik Saidullayev, claimed at a Friday news conference in Moscow that his body would prevail over the government of Chechen President Aslen Maskhadov.
``All parents, mothers, fathers will follow us; all the people who have children and who want these children to have a happy future,'' he said.
The streets of the capital, Grozny, which had been nearly deserted earlier in the week, were busy Friday with residents shopping for food and discussing Moscow's formation of a government-in-exile for Chechnya. Many saw the council as a puppet government.
Maskhadov, in comments published Friday in Russia's Kommersant newspaper, said another full-scale war in Chechnya would again result ``in Russia's shame and defeat'' and he urged Moscow to seek a peaceful solution.
Russia has informed the United States it has violated an international conventional arms agreement by sending more armored equipment to southern Russia in its battle against Chechen rebels than the accord permits.
The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe agreement limits the number of tanks, artillery pieces, aircraft and other non-nuclear arms in Europe, with specific ceilings for particular regions.
Meanwhile, the refugee flow from Chechnya to neighboring Ingushetia has topped 133,000, but food, tents and other vital supplies are still lacking, according to the territory's leader, President Ruslan Aushev. Thousands more have fled to other regions.
AP-NY-10-08-99 1805EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chechen Leader Declares Martial Law
By LYOMA TURPALOV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (AP) -(October 6, 1999) Chechnya's leader declared martial law in a bid to halt advancing Russian troops, who again pounded the rebel republic with airstrikes and artillery today.
The Russians say they've seized the northern third of Chechnya since entering the lawless territory last week in an effort to seal it off from the rest of Russia.
The Russians today were fortifying positions on the northern bank of the Terek River, including a stronghold near the village of Chervlyonnaya, 15 miles northeast of Grozny.
The river cuts across northern Chechnya, and the Russian media has said Russian troops may halt their incursion along this line. The plains of northern Chechnya are thinly populated and should be relatively easy for the Russian ground forces to defend with their tanks and big artillery guns.
But if the Russians push south across the river and toward the capital, the wooded, hilly terrain would begin to favor the Chechen fighters, who are much more effective at guerrilla raids than pitched battles.
Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said the Russian forces were facing only ``pockets of resistance'' and may cross the river. ``Everything will depend on the situation,'' he said.
The Russians rained artillery shells on northwest Chechnya and carried out bombing raids in eastern Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported, citing Chechen officials. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov on Tuesday night declared martial law, which took effect today ``to protect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.''
The economy will be placed on war footing, and Chechnya's Muslim clerics were expected to call for a ``holy war'' against Russia, Chechnya's Deputy Prime Minister Kazbek Makhashev told the Interfax news agency.
The streets of Grozny were largely deserted today. Some food markets were operating, but most men on the streets were in military uniforms.
The wing of a Russian Su-25 war plane that was shot down Monday was placed on a pedestal in the central square in Grozny. The plane was one of two that the Chechen fighters have brought down in recent days.
``I am happy that this aircraft was shot down,'' said a woman who gave her name only as Rosa. ``It means the Russians can't bomb us with impunity.''
The Russians have been bombing Chechnya for several weeks. Many of the attacks have been concentrated in and around Grozny, destroying oil refineries, brick yards and suspected bases belonging to Chechen militants.
The raids have prompted at least 125,000 civilians to flee Chechnya, with most of them heading to the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. The influx is straining resources in Ingushetia, an impoverished republic that had just over 300,000 people before the refugee flood began.
``The local hospitals ... just cannot provide the sick refugees with medical aid,'' Ingushetia's President Ruslan Aushev told Interfax. ``Children sleep on the ground and have very few warm clothes.''
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko arrived in Ingushetia on Tuesday and said Russia could cope with the crisis without international aid.
But, she added, ``should international organizations express a wish to offer assistance, it would be wrong to turn it down.''
Russia took military action after Chechen-based Muslim militants invaded the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan in August and September seeking to create an Islamic state in southern Russia.
The militants have also been blamed for bombings in Russia last month that killed about 300 people.
Chechnya has effectively been independent since Russian troops withdrew at the end of a 1994-96 war, but warlords and criminal gangs have rendered the territory ungovernable.
AP-NY-10-06-99 0828EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russian Plane Shot Down in Chechnya
By RUSLAN MUSAYEV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (AP) - October 4, 1999 - Russian tanks and infantry thrust deeper into Chechnya on Monday to create a security zone around the rebel republic, as jets and artillery pounded the insurgents by air and by land.
At least four regions in eastern Chechnya were hit by rocket fire, and two areas of central Chechnya were bombed, the territory's Deputy Prime Minister Kazbek Makhashev said.
Chechen forces shot down a Russian Su-25 warplane, killing the pilot, said Col. Islam Khasukhanov, deputy chief of the general staff, according to the Interfax news agency. He said the plane was downed by a Stinger missile near Urus-Martan, about 15 miles southwest of Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic.
The Russian Defense Ministry declined comment on the claim.
Russian forces entered Chechnya last week and have been advancing steadily to establish a security zone along the borders of the republic's mountainous borders. But the military buildup has raised fears that there could be a repeat of the 1994-96 civil war in the republic, which left tens of thousands dead.
``We will destroy militants with all means at our disposal,'' said Lt. Gen. Gennady Troshev, a senior Russian commander in the region.
Russia began its raids on Chechnya after Muslim militants invaded neighboring Dagestan in August and September, seeking to create an Islamic state in southern Russia. The militants have also been blamed for a series of bombings in Russia last month that killed about 300 people.
Chechen fighters have been fortifying strongholds in an attempt to hold back the Russians, who have much greater firepower.
``Chechnya will not give up a single square meter of land,'' Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said Sunday.
Maskhadov, who has been unable to restore order in Chechnya since winning the presidential election in 1997, said Russia's military action made it virtually impossible to disarm the militants.
``When an ax hangs over Chechnya, I cannot disarm people,'' he said.
In a clash Sunday in the northeastern village of Dubovskaya, two Russian soldiers were killed and eight wounded, Russian officials said. The Chechens said they had captured three Russian soldiers, according to the Interfax news agency.
The Russian military has said it is targeting only suspected guerrilla bases and support facilities.
But Maskhadov said more Russian air raids had killed 400 civilians and injured more than 1,000. He also said the territory's feeble economy was further wrecked, with damage done to hospitals, brick plants, oil refineries and an oil pipeline.
The Russians have moved into Chechnya with caution, unlike five years ago when they stormed the territory in an attempt to crush Chechen separatists. They have taken up positions outside two villages in eastern Chechnya, and have been negotiating with village elders, military spokesman Lt. Col. Andre Matveenko said.
The Chechen elders are trying to prevent an attack on the villages, Kargalinskaya and Borozdonovskaya. But Russia wants all suspected rebels to surrender, after which it has said it will make a house-to-house search.
Russia also has cut off natural gas supplies to Chechnya and is cutting back on electricity deliveries, although news reports said Monday that utility officials denied they had cut service in connection with the fighting, but rather because of Chechnya's electricity debts.
Meanwhile, refugees continued to stream out of Chechnya, with the total approaching 100,000 people.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday announced the establishment of a government commission to deal with the refugee problem. Putin made the announcement after meeting with President Boris Yeltsin at the Kremlin, but gave no details.
Most of the refugees have exited Chechnya to the west, overwhelming the impoverished republic of Ingushetia, which had only 300,000 residents prior to the crisis.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international aid groups have been pitching in to provide food and shelter for the refugees.
AP-NY-10-04-99 1823EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
28 Chechens Said Killed by Russia
Nighttime Russian Bombing Raid on Chechen Town Kills Civilians
By RUSLAN MUSAYEV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (Oct. 3, 99) -A nighttime Russian bombing raid on a Chechen town killed 28 civilians, many of them children, and destroyed more than 50 homes, anguished residents and Chechen officials said Sunday.
''Why are the Russians bombing us? We are not terrorists,'' said a tearful Lechi Tovbulatov, 58, who described losing his wife and two children in the Saturday night airstrikes on the town of Urus-Martan.
Residents cleared away the debris from the damaged homes on Sunday, and as they sifted through the wreckage, they occasionally found body parts of those killed in the raid.
Fourteen of the 28 killed were children, and more than 100 people were injured, many of them seriously, according to residents and Chechen officials. Urus-Martan, 15 miles southwest of the Chechen capital Grozny, is one of the biggest towns in the breakaway southern republic.
Russian military officials in the neighboring territory of Dagestan refused to comment on the air raid.
Russia has been bombing Chechnya for the past two weeks and has been moving troops several miles inside Chechnya's border in an attempt to create a security zone around the rebellious territory.
Russia began the raids after Muslim militants from Chechnya invaded neighboring Dagestan in August and September, seeking to create an Islamic state in southern Russia. The militants have also been blamed for a series of bombings in Russia last month that killed about 300 people.
The Russian military insists it is targeting only suspected guerrilla bases and support facilities.
''Bomb strikes are made only after the double checking of coordinates, in fact they are checked several times before making a strike,'' said Sergei Pryganov, a spokesman for the Russian military press center in neighboring Dagestan.
But Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said more than 400 civilians have died and more than 1,000 have been injured in the air raids. He also said the territory's feeble economy has been further damaged, with hospitals, brick plants, oil refineries and an oil pipeline all hit.
''Chechnya will not give up a single square meter of land,'' Maskhadov told a news conference Sunday.
Maskhadov has been unable to restore order to Chechnya since winning election as president in 1997, and said the Russian airstrikes would make it even more difficult to disarm militants.
''Show us terrorist bases and we will destroy them on our own,'' he said. But, he added, ''when an axe hangs over Chechnya, I cannot disarm people.''
Chechnya's military headquarters said Russian warplanes bombed northern Chechnya on Sunday, striking the villages of Naur and Shelkovsk. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Chechnya has been effectively independent since 1996, when Russian troops withdrew at the end of a two-year war.
AP-NY-10-03-99 1537EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russia Increases Efforts in Chechnya
By RUSLAN MUSAYEV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (AP) -(October 3, 1999) Russian troops on Sunday intensified their campaign to create a security zone inside Chechnya while warplanes reportedly continued their daily bombing of the breakaway republic.
Russian forces were reported to be setting up positions as far as three miles inside Chechnya in several border regions as part of a plan to put a so-called ``sanitary zone'' in place, said Sergei Pryganov, a spokesman for the Russian defense press center.
He said the security zone will have three tiers: Interior Ministry troops backed up by two rings of Russian army troops.
Valery Manilov, the army's first deputy chief of staff, told the ITAR-Tass news agency on Saturday that the security zone would give Russia ``systemic control of all and everything that crosses in and out of Chechnya.''
Officials at Chechnya's military headquarters said Russian warplanes Sunday continued their bombing campaign, striking the villages of Naur and Shelkovsk in the Kargalinskaya region of northern Chechnya. The Defense Ministry press center in Dagestan would not confirm that the raids took place.
Defense Ministry officials insist their targets are suspected guerrilla bases or support facilities. But in the town of Urus-Martan, 12 miles southwest of Grozny, residents said an air raid on Saturday night was random and destroyed 56 houses, including a church.
The residents said 28 people, including 14 children, were killed in the bombing of the town, one of Chechnya's largest.
``Why are the Russians bombing us, we are not terrorists,'' said Lechi Tovbulatov, who told of losing his wife and two children in a bombing run Saturday night.
Pryganov said that reports about loss of life among the Chechen population were inaccurate.
``Bomb strikes are made only after double-checking of coordinates, in fact they are checked several times before making a strike,'' he said.
Russia began the air raids, which have become daily over the past week, after Muslim militants invaded neighboring Dagestan in August and September, seeking to create an Islamic state in southern Russia. The militants also have been blamed for a series of bombings in Russia last month that killed about 300 people.
More than 88,000 refugees have fled Chechnya since the bombing began, straining the resources of the surrounding, impoverished Russian regions.
Russian Interior Ministry troops continued to occupy the village of Borozdinovka, located 1.8 miles inside Chechnya, which is suspected of harboring rebel guerrillas.
According to Pryganov, the Russians will leave the village only if the militants depart and troops can perform a house-to-house search for suspected rebels.
AP-NY-10-03-99 0852EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russian Warplanes Pound Chechnya
By NABI ABDULAYEV
.c The Associated Press
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) -(Sept. 25, 99) Russian warplanes continued to pound the Chechen capital Grozny today and destroyed the breakaway republic's television center, news reports said.
``The television center ceased to exist,'' Russian Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Chechen officials said seven people were killed and 24 wounded in the early morning air raid, the Interfax news agency said. The transmitter tower was still standing, but the center's equipment was damaged beyond repair, the report said.
Russian airstrikes have sent thousands fleeing as the intensifying campaign heightened fears of another war in Chechnya.
Three days of attacks in which Russian planes bombed targets in and near Grozny are the first major raids on the city since a 1994-96 war between federal forces and Chechen separatists.
The Russian government says it is seeking to destroy Islamic militants based in Chechnya who twice invaded the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan since early August. The militants have also been linked to apparent terrorist bombings that have killed 300 people in Moscow and other Russian cities this month.
The militants say they want to carve out a separate Islamic state in the Caucasus Mountains region.
On Friday, ITAR-Tass quoted Chechen energy officials as saying air raids took out Grozny's oil refinery - a key component of the region's struggling economy - and paralyzed the Grozny gas distribution plant. The raids killed at least five people and injured at least 21, according to witnesses and local officials.
A total of 300,000 Chechens are estimated to have fled their homes, the Chechen Ministry for Emergencies said Friday.
The air raids and the concentration of Russian troops along the Chechen-Dagestani border have created fears of a full-scale war in Chechnya. Russia has put an estimated 13,000 troops along the border, ostensibly to ward off a new invasion by militants.
Russian forces have control of all the hills along the border in Dagestan, a military spokesman told Interfax today, and federal forces were continuing to fortify their positions.
Chechen militants fired on several Russian outposts in Dagestan, but the federal forces suffered no losses, Interfax said.
According to Interfax, there was evidence the militants were planning terrorist acts, including the taking of hostages at schools and hospitals to force Russia to halt the airstrikes.
Moscow has said the air raids are not directed against the Chechen government, but against Islamic militants and facilities they use.
Chechen officials said Russia were planning to send ground troops within days, but Russian officials have repeatedly denied any such plans.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday a ground attack was ``not in planning.'' But, he added, that ``if in order to eliminate the base of terrorism we have to use special forces, then we will do so, but very, very accurately.''
Chechnya has run its own affairs since winning de facto independence in 1996. Moscow still claims it is a part of Russia and has struggled to keep violence from spreading outward to the rest of the Caucasus region.
AP-NY-09-25-99 0622EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russia Strikes Chechnya by Air
By RUSLAN MUSAYEV
.c The Associated Press
GROZNY, Russia (AP) -(Sept. 24, 99) Russian airstrikes around Chechnya's capital killed at least five people Friday and sent thousands fleeing as the intensifying campaign heightened fears of another war in the breakaway republic.
Chechnya's envoy to Moscow, Mairbek Vachagaev, said in London on Friday that Chechnya has warned Russia that hostilities could escalate into a tragedy of ``global proportions.''
Since the bombing campaign began, Vachagaev said nearly 300 people have died and thousands more have been injured.
``From the beginning of the hostilities, from the bombardment two weeks ago, 298 are dead, at least 298,'' he said, speaking through a translator after a speech organized by the Gorbachev Foundation. ``Of those, 212 are made up of women and children.''
The bombings Friday followed attacks the day before in which Russian planes pounded targets in and near Grozny, the first major raid on the city since a 1994-96 war between federal forces and Chechen separatists.
The Russian government says it is trying to destroy Islamic militants based in Chechnya who twice invaded the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan since early August. The militants also have been linked to apparent terrorist bombings that have killed 300 people in Moscow and other Russian cities this month.
Chechnya has run its own affairs since winning de facto independence in 1996. Moscow still claims it is a part of Russia and has struggled to keep violence from spreading to the rest of the Caucasus region.
The raids over the past 24 hours took out Grozny's oil refinery - a key component of the region's struggling economy - and paralyzed the Grozny gas distribution plant, Chechen energy officials were quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Gas supplies to homes and industries in Chechnya have been completely cut off, said Solombek Khadzhiyev, head of the Chechen branch of Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom.
Friday's raids killed at leas bve N kple and injured at least 21, according to witnesses and local officials. The raids destroyed several apartment buildings and struck an abandoned military airfield.
Meanwhile, thousands were fleeing. On Friday afternoon, 5,000 vehicles jammed a road leading to the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Some 300,000 Chechens are estimated to have fled their homes, the Chechen Ministry for Emergencies said, according to ITAR-Tass.
The air raids and the concentration of Russian troops along the Chechen-Dagestani border have created fears of a full-scale war in Chechnya. Russia has put an estimated 13,000 troops along the border, ostensibly to ward off a new invasion by militants.
Chechen officials said Russia was planning to send ground troops within days, but Russian officials have repeatedly denied that.
Russia's army is short of tra5 e soldiers for ground combat, and the government seems unwilling to risk a repetition of the public outrage that was prompted by heavy losses during the 1994-96 war.
Chechnya's militants say they want to carve out a separate Islamic state in the Caucasus Mountains region, but Russian officials claim they want to seize Dagestan for access to the oil-rich Caspian Sea.
AP-NY-09-24-99 1834EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FIFTH BLAST - St. Petersburg Blast Kills Two, TNT Blamed
By Konstantin Trifonov
Reuters
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Sept. 16, 99) - An explosive device went off at an apartment door of a block of flats in St Petersburg killing two people and injuring four, an Emergencies Ministry officer at the scene said Friday.
But the officer said the blast, which damaged three apartments, did not immediately appear to be linked to recent bomb explosions in Moscow and southern Russia, in which 300 people were killed.
''It now looks like an explosive device equivalent to three or four kg (6.6 or nine pounds) of TNT,'' the officer said. ''But I would not describe it as a terrorist act, at least nothing like the Moscow blasts.''
An Emergencies Ministry duty officer in St Petersburg first said the blast, which occurred at 11:30 p.m., Thursday had been caused by a gas leak.
There have been four bomb explosions in Russia since August 31 -- two in Moscow, another in the north Caucasus town of Buinaksk and one in the southern town of Volgodonsk.
Officials have blamed the blasts on separatist radicals from the breakaway region of Chechnya. Chechen authorities, who have little influence on the region's unruly warlords, have denied the charges.
The Emergencies Ministry official, who declined to be identified, said: ''This blast looks like an attack on the residents of the apartment if it was a deliberate attack.''
He said the explosive device went off at the doors of an apartment on the seventh floor, badly damaging a stairway between the sixth and the eighth floor and one inner wall.
The subsequent fire also damaged two apartments on the sixth and the eighth floor. It was put out within an hour.
The building, situated near the city port area, appeared undamaged from the outside, with slightly smoked walls and burnt-out windows on the damaged floors. Residents were evacuated.
Although bomb blasts are often a method for Russian businessmen and criminals to sort out their problems, residents said the occupants of the bombed apartment were law-abiding.
Maria Gorelova, who lives on the second floor, said the husband and wife, who were killed in the flat, were ''people like you and me, nothing special.''
But she added: ''That Polishchuk has been criticised by neighbors for keeping petrol for his car in jerry-cans right at his doors and maybe this made things worse.''
The Emergencies Ministry spokesman said experts from the FSB domestic security service were working at the scene to establish the exact nature of the blast.
The Emergencies Ministry officer said that there was a child among the four injured but gave no further details.
Reut21:38 09-16-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thousands Detained in Moscow
11,000 Suspects Detained in Security Sweep After Recent Bombings
By GREG MYRE
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (Sept. 17, 99) - Police have detained more than 11,000 suspects as part of a massive security sweep prompted by the wave of terrorist attacks in Russia, the interior minister claimed today.
About 30 of those rounded up are suspected of involvement in the bombings that have claimed about 300 lives this month, according to Russian officials.
The vast majority were detained for completely unrelated reasons after police began randomly stopping people on subways, in markets and at apartment buildings to check identity documents and search for clues in the bombings.
Meanwhile, a small explosive device blew up in an apartment building in St. Petersburg, killing two people and injuring three. The Thursday night blast was the sixth fatal bombing in Russia in less than three weeks.
However, the St. Petersburg explosion was not on the same scale as the other apartment bombings, and authorities viewed it as unrelated. The explosion was probably an accident, and the ensuing fire was made worse by a can of gasoline, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said.
President Boris Yeltsin's government is under increasing pressure to end the attacks and drive out Islamic militants from southern Russia, where they have been battling Russian forces for more than a month in Dagestan.
Russian leaders say the militants, many of them from the breakaway territory of Chechnya, are also responsible for the bombing campaign in Russia. Police have been targeting dark-skinned people from southern Russia for document checks.
Police have detained a number of Chechens in recent days, but so far no one has been formally charged in any of the bombings.
The security sweep has netted 2,200 people who were already on police wanted lists, and another 9,000 suspected of involvement in various crimes unrelated to the bombings, Rushailo said.
He did not say exactly when the security crackdown began, or indicate how many suspects were still being held.
''We will restore strict order in the streets,'' said Rushailo, who heads the national police force.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has given government agencies three days to come up with plans for strengthening security in transportation, communications, and energy installations, as well as in residential areas.
During a Cabinet meeting Thursday, he turned to the television cameras and appealed to citizens to protect themselves.
''I want to turn to military veterans, police veterans. Take the initiative on yourselves,'' he said.
Moscow is abuzz with speculation the government will declare a state of emergency, which would allow Yeltsin to rule by decree. But Yeltsin has denied that and said he will serve out the remainder of his term, which expires in mid-2000.
Police discovered a ''huge amount'' of explosive powder in a southern Moscow suburb on Thursday, hidden among sacks of sugar from a plant in southern Russia, security officials said. Police also uncovered six timing devices, apparently designed to detonate bombs, the Federal Security Service said.
A huge truck bomb on Thursday sheared off the front of a nine-story apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk, about 500 miles south of Moscow. The blast left a huge crater in front of the building and severely damaged a nearby police station and about 20 other buildings.
At least 17 people were killed and 184 others were wounded, officials said.
Volgodonsk, a city of 250,000 people, is close to the volatile Caucasus Mountains region, where the Russian forces have been fighting Islamic militants since early August.
AP-NY-09-17-99 0719EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Explosion Shatters Russian Building
By BARRY RENFREW
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) -(Sept. 16, 1999) An explosion devastated an apartment building today in southern Russia, leaving at least 17 people dead and 115 others injured in what authorities said was the fourth massive terrorist attack in two weeks.
Explosives hidden in a truck demolished the front of a nine-story building in the city of Volgodonsk, close to Russia's volatile Caucasus Mountains region, where Russian forces have been battling Islamic militants, officials said.
The latest explosion came as speculation mounted in Moscow that President Boris Yeltsin's government could face a political crisis because of its apparent inability to end the wave of attacks.
Traces of explosives were found in the wreckage, the Federal Security Service said. It was the fourth major explosion involving a large apartment building in Russia during the past two weeks. All of the explosions happened overnight, when residents were sleeping, apparently to inflict a maximum number of casualties.
The blast brought down the front of the building, badly damaged a nearby police station and about 20 other surrounding buildings, Interior Ministry officials said. The explosion left a four-yard crater in front of the apartment building.
At least 17 people were killed and 115 others were wounded, about 50 of them in serious condition, officials said. Volgodonsk has a population of about 250,000 people and is 500 miles south of Moscow.
Firefighters fought a blaze that engulfed several floors of the building, and rescue workers and volunteers pulled away piles of rubble, hunting for survivors, officials said. The building is in a drab residential area of rows of similar apartment buildings.
Yeltsin discussed the latest explosion at a meeting today with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
``We have the strength and resources to wipe out terrorism,'' Yeltsin said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Yeltsin's fitness to govern Russia is again under question with the spate of recent bombings and the unresolved conflict in Dagestan in southern Russia, where Islamic rebels are battling Russian government forces.
The president has insisted he will not declare a state of emergency, and that he will serve out the remainder of his term, which expires in the middle of next year.
Still, Moscow is buzzing with rumors of possible political changes. There is daily speculation about the government declaring a state of emergency, which would allow Yeltsin to rule by decree. There is also talk that Yeltsin may dismiss Putin, who assumed office just last month.
Many of the rumors are contradictory. Some say Yeltsin plans to extend his term by postponing or canceling parliamentary elections in December and the presidential poll set for next summer.
But other rumors say Yeltsin might suddenly resign in coming days, install Putin as interim president, and announce presidential elections within three months in the expectation that Putin would win.
The Kremlin has denied each and every one of these rumors, but it hasn't stopped the speculation.
Today's blast targeted a building that contained 100 apartments in the small city Volgodonsk, 600 miles south of Moscow.
Russian authorities suspect Islamic militants from southern Russia are responsible for three earlier explosions, which killed at least 275 people, including two blasts in Moscow. A car bomb destroyed a military housing complex Sept. 4 in Dagestan, killing 64 people.
Authorities have not produced evidence linking the blasts to any particular group.
The militants, who are fighting for a separate Islamic state, had threatened to strike targets in Russia. But they have denied any involvement in the recent explosions.
As part of a national anti-terrorism operation, codenamed Whirlwind, authorities discovered on Wednesday a weapons cache containing 150 dynamite charges, 17 grenades and other explosives in Russia's Far East, Federal Security Service officials said today.
Local residents led the authorities to the wooded area where the explosives were hidden about 30 miles from port city of Vladivostok, the officials said.
Authorities were investigating who stockpiled the weapons.
The latest explosion came after massive security sweeps in Moscow and other major Russian cities. Police have been searching for explosives in apartment buildings throughout the Russian capital and rounding up suspects.
Putin said Wednesday that the people who carried out the attacks in Moscow were hiding in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, adding that Russia would ask the Chechen government to ``hand over the criminals.''
AP-NY-09-16-99 1003EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death Toll Rises in Russian Blast
17 Killed, 115 Injured in Latest Apartment Explosion
By BARRY RENFREW
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (Sept. 16, 99) - An explosion devastated an apartment building today in southern Russia, leaving at least 17 people dead and 115 others injured in what authorities said was the fourth massive terrorist attack in two weeks.
Explosives hidden in a truck demolished the front of a nine-story building in the city of Volgodonsk, close to Russia's volatile Caucasus Mountains region, where Russian forces have been battling Islamic militants, officials said.
The latest explosion came as speculation mounted in Moscow that President Boris Yeltsin's government could face a political crisis because of its apparent inability to end the wave of attacks.
Traces of explosives were found in the wreckage, the Federal Security Service said. It was the fourth major explosion involving a large apartment building in Russia during the past two weeks. All of the explosions happened overnight, when residents were sleeping, apparently to inflict a maximum number of casualties.
The blast brought down the front of the building, badly damaged a nearby police station and about 20 other surrounding buildings, Interior Ministry officials said. The explosion left a four-yard crater in front of the apartment building.
At least 17 people were killed and 115 others were wounded, about 50 of them in serious condition, officials said. Volgodonsk has a population of about 250,000 people and is 500 miles south of Moscow.
Firefighters fought a blaze that engulfed several floors of the building, and rescue workers and volunteers pulled away piles of rubble, hunting for survivors, officials said. The building is in a drab residential area of rows of similar apartment buildings.
Yeltsin discussed the latest explosion at a meeting today with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
''We have the strength and resources to wipe out terrorism,'' Yeltsin said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Yeltsin's fitness to govern Russia is again under question with the spate of recent bombings and the unresolved conflict in Dagestan in southern Russia, where Islamic rebels are battling Russian government forces.
The president has insisted he will not declare a state of emergency, and that he will serve out the remainder of his term, which expires in the middle of next year.
Still, Moscow is buzzing with rumors of possible political changes. There is daily speculation about the government declaring a state of emergency, which would allow Yeltsin to rule by decree. There is also talk that Yeltsin may dismiss Putin, who assumed office just last month.
Many of the rumors are contradictory. Some say Yeltsin plans to extend his term by postponing or canceling parliamentary elections in December and the presidential poll set for next summer.
But other rumors say Yeltsin might suddenly resign in coming days, install Putin as interim president, and announce presidential elections within three months in the expectation that Putin would win.
The Kremlin has denied each and every one of these rumors, but it hasn't stopped the speculation.
Today's blast targeted a building that contained 100 apartments in the small city Volgodonsk, 600 miles south of Moscow.
Russian authorities suspect Islamic militants from southern Russia are responsible for three earlier explosions, which killed at least 275 people, including two blasts in Moscow. A car bomb destroyed a military housing complex Sept. 4 in Dagestan, killing 64 people.
Authorities have not produced evidence linking the blasts to any particular group.
The militants, who are fighting for a separate Islamic state, had threatened to strike targets in Russia. But they have denied any involvement in the recent explosions.
The latest explosion came after massive security sweeps in Moscow and other major Russian cities. Police have been searching for explosives in apartment buildings throughout the Russian capital and rounding up suspects.
Putin said Wednesday that the people who carried out the attacks in Moscow were hiding in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, adding that Russia would ask the Chechen government to ''hand over the criminals.''
AP-NY-09-16-99 0742EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russia to Seek Irish Help in Terrorism Fight
By Patrick Lannin
Reuters
MOSCOW (Sept. 15, 99) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told visiting Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern Wednesday that Russia needed to use Ireland's experience in fighting terrorism after Moscow was hit by two devastating bombs in four days.
Putin and Ahern, who is the first Irish prime minister to visit Russia, signed an agreement on fighting crime and terrorism and another on combating drug trafficking.
The two men met as Russia tightened security after two bombs killed more than 200 people in Moscow in the past week.
''It is not something that we are immensely proud of, but we have amassed a vast amount of information on this subject,'' Ahern told a news conference after signing the documents.
Ireland helped Britain during its 30-year fight with the Irish Republican Army, which wants to unite Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, with the Irish Republic.
The two nations are also battling extreme loyalist groups that want to preserve the status quo in Northern Ireland.
''It is ironic and sad that we are signing this agreement this week when our colleagues in the Russian Federation are having these difficulties,'' Ahern said.
''As part of this agreement, the exchange of knowledge and information and data is what we are committed to.''
Putin said security all over Moscow had been tightened after the blasts, which followed a smaller bomb at a central Moscow shopping mall on Aug. 31, in which one woman died.
''Russia is confronting the problem of drug trafficking on a scale not known before. It is also fighting terrorism. All these issues are very sensitive for us,'' Putin said.
''Clearly our experts have a lot of things to discuss with each other,'' Putin said of exchanges of visits by Irish and Russian crime and terrorism fighters.
Russia has pinned the blame for the attacks on Muslim radicals and says the breakaway region of Chechnya, with which Russia fought a 1994-96 war, is helping them.
Moscow police said 27 suspects were seized in an operation dubbed ''Operation Whirlwind'' and that intelligence services had discovered how the attacks were carried out.
Reut11:03 09-15-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
116 Killed in Moscow Explosion
By ANGELA CHARLTON
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (Sept. 14, 99) - Security forces combed railway stations and markets across Russia today after a suspected bomb blast that reduced an eight-story apartment building to a heap of bricks, dust and mangled furniture, killing at least 116 people.
Rescuers continued to search the wreckage for victims of Monday's explosion in Moscow, the fourth major blast in Russia in the last two weeks. Search crews today reached the building's basement, which was full of water from burst pipes. Children's toys floated in the muck.
Rescuers had pulled out 116 bodies, including 10 children, by this morning, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Nine wounded people were hospitalized, including several residents of a neighboring building.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, which police suspect was caused by a bomb.
Police found a cache of nearly 2 tons of explosives and a 70-yard length of fuse in another apartment block in southwestern Moscow, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said today. The explosives were discovered Monday and the building was evacuated, and bomb experts exploded them safely at a military training ground today, Interior Ministry officials said.
Authorities blamed terrorists, and the government ordered a massive security operation in Moscow and other cities. Police fanned out through railway and subway stations and other crowded areas of the capital, checking identity papers. They also searched for stores of explosives in buildings across Moscow.
Three people suspected of being linked with the blast have been detained, police said today. They gave no details, though the Interfax news agency said two owned companies with offices on the ground floor of the destroyed building.
Police released sketches and photographs of three other men suspected of involvement in the bombing, including a man who allegedly rented space in the building destroyed Monday and another Moscow apartment building that was blown up last Thursday. At least 93 people died in that blast.
President Boris Yeltsin ordered tight security at airports, nuclear power stations, oil pipelines and other possible targets across the country. He gave Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov 24 hours to have all the 30,000 residential buildings in Moscow searched for explosives.
''Terrorists are trying to scare the Russian people. They are trying to demoralize the state,'' Yeltsin declared in a nationally televised address Monday.
He met today with Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo, who is in charge of police.
The Russian military will join the security operations in Moscow, Sergeyev said afterward, without specifying how the military would be involved.
Rushailo said Monday evening that the explosions were linked to two warlords in Chechnya who are leading Islamic militants fighting Russian troops in the southern region of Dagestan. They are Shamil Basayev and Khattab, a Jordanian who goes by one name.
Luzkhov hinted that the capital's ''guests'' or visitors - especially those not registered with the police - could be evicted.
The latest blast increased concern that the government might use the rash of explosions to declare a state of emergency. Opponents of Yeltsin have claimed for months that the president is looking for a chance to assume emergency powers so he can suppress his foes and bolster his hold on power.
Yeltsin insisted Monday that emergency rule was not imminent.
Sixty-two families, or 150 people, were registered as living in the building destroyed Monday, but there were no estimates of how many were home at the time of the blast, police said.
The entire building crashed to the ground, its beige bricks crushed to rubble and dust. Rescuers pulled just two people alive from the debris on Monday. The building was located in a quiet, nondescript residential area, close to a school and two kindergartens.
AP-NY-09-14-99 0605EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russia Tightens Security After Moscow Blasts
Reuters
MOSCOW (Sept. 13, 99) - The authorities in major Russian cities boosted security on Monday after two powerful blasts in Moscow killed more than 130 people in under a week.
More than 40 people were killed on Monday morning when explosives, placed in a ground-floor shop, destroyed an eight-storey apartment block in a suburb of the capital. A similar bomb blast on Thursday killed more than 90 people.
An angry President Boris Yeltsin gave the Moscow authorities 24 hours to work out steps to ensure security in the city and ordered similar measures in other major centres and at sensitive sites like oil depots and nuclear power stations.
``Today we launched a series of blanket checks of all rented apartments and companies occupying ground floors and cellars,'' Moscow police chief Nikolai Kulikov told ORT television. ``By tonight we will have all buildings in the city guarded.''
He said his men could properly check all ground floors, cellars and attics in the city by night, but admitted that guarding every building which needed protection would demand police reinforcement from other parts of Russia.
Kulikov also said he would tighten security in Moscow.
``We will take steps to expel people who are in town without the proper registration, a clear status or those suspected of having criminal links,'' he said. To live in Moscow, people must have a special permit, which shows where they reside.
Authorities in St Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, took similar measures, although city governor Vladimir Yakovlev, leader of an opposition political bloc set to run for parliament in December, said he opposed a formal state of emergency.
``The introduction of a state of emergency would mean an end to our progress,'' a statement by Yakovlev's office said.
A state of emergency has been mooted by some politicians after the blasts, although at the moment only a law on terrorism could be used to tighten security and curb some civil liberties.
Yakovlev ordered cars whose owners could not be identified to be removed from the street, attics and cellars in buildings to be sealed and the introduction of round-the-clock supervision of apartment blocks, schools and hospitals.
Yakovlev's office warned the authorities and public against turning their anger against St Petersburg's Chechen population.
The breakaway North Caucasus region has been blamed by some politicians for the blasts and providing bases for Moslem rebels in neighbouring Dagestan. Chechnya has denied responsibility for the blasts.
``There can be no place in our great city for any show of nationalism and barbarism ,'' the statement said.
Several other Russian cities and regions, especially those in the south, near the volatile North Caucasus, have introduced similar steps after the blasts.
12:13 09-13-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russian Minister Blames Blasts on Chechen Warlords
Reuters
MOSCOW (Sept. 13, 99) - Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo on Monday accused warlords from the rebel region of Chechnya, Shamil Basayev and Khattab, of staging two blasts in Moscow over four days in which 140 people have died.
"What happened in Moscow was done by Khattab and Basayev and their people. There is no doubt about it," Rushailo, leading the investigation into the blasts, told NTV television.
Khattab, who has fought with Chechen rebels but is of Jordanian origin, has in the past threatened Russia with terrorist acts. Basayev at the weekend denied any connection to such attacks.
More than 40 people died when a powerful blast destroyed an apartment block in Moscow on Monday, while more than 90 people were killed in a similar blast last Thursday.
Rushailo said the acts were linked to a conflict in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, where Russian troops have fought with Islamic rebels led by Basayev and Khattab.
Reut13:00 09-13-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dozens Killed in Moscow Explosion
At Least 70 Dead, Dozens Missing After Suspected Bomb Blast
By JUDITH INGRAM
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (Sept. 13, 99) - Dozens of people were missing and believed buried under tons of wreckage Monday after a suspected bomb pulverized an eight-story apartment building in Moscow, killing at least 70 people.
Authorities blamed terrorists for the pre-dawn blast, and appealed for help finding a man who allegedly rented space in that building and another that was blown up four days earlier. More than 200 people have died in explosions in Russia during the past two weeks.
The government ordered a massive security operation in the capital and other cities. Police checked people's identity papers at metro stations and other crowded areas, and searched for stores of explosives in buildings across Moscow.
Russian leaders promised to deal harshly with whomever was responsible for the explosions, although no one immediately claimed responsibility.
President Boris Yeltsin said terrorists had declared war on the country.
''Terrorists are trying to scare the Russian people. They are trying to demoralize the state,'' he declared in a nationally televised address.
Yeltsin ordered tight security at airports, nuclear power stations, oil pipelines and other possible targets across the country. He gave Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov 24 hours to have all 30,000 residential buildings in the city searched for explosives.
Luzkhov said crowded areas such as markets and public transportation vehicles would be patrolled more tightly, and hinted that the capital's ''guests,'' or travelers - especially those not registered with the police - could be evicted.
He linked the two latest blasts to fighting in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, where government troops are battling Islamic rebels who have occupied several villages. Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said the explosions were linked to two warlords in Chechnya who are leading the offensive in Dagestan:
Shamil Basayev and Khattab, a Jordanian who goes by one name.
''What happened in Moscow is the handiwork of their people,'' he told NTV television.
Sixty-two families, or 150 people, were registered as living in the building that blew up just before dawn Monday, but police said there were no estimates of how many were home at the time.
The entire building crashed to the ground, its beige bricks crushed to rubble and dust. Rescuers pulled just two people from the debris alive. The building was located in a quiet residential area, close to a school and two kindergartens, just four miles from the site of Thursday's blast.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said at least 70 people were killed, including seven children. Nine people were hospitalized and 14 others were treated for slight injuries, it said.
The Federal Security Service, the country's main intelligence agency, was searching the scene.
''Everything is very similar, one just like the other,'' said a harried Vladimir Legoshin of the Emergency Situations Ministry, comparing Monday's blast to the one four days earlier.
Rescue workers and firefighters picked their way through the debris, surrounded by choking dust and smoke, as cranes lifted large chunks of the concrete and bulldozers cleared away mounds of bricks mixed with singed photographs, tattered stuffed animals and clothes.
Police asked the public to help find a man named Mukhit Laipanov, who allegedly had rented offices at the last two buildings shattered by explosions. A composite sketch of Laipanov was distributed after the explosion last Thursday, which destroyed part of a nine-story building and killed at least 93 people.
Two people suspected of being linked to the latest blast were detained Monday afternoon, Luzhkov announced. He gave no other details.
Police discovered a large quantity of explosives in Moscow on Monday, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo said on NTV. He gave no details.
Monday's blast was the fourth major explosion in Russia in the past two weeks. Islamic militants also have been blamed for an apartment blast in the Dagestani city of Buinaksk about a week ago that killed 64. One person died in the bombing of a shopping mall near the Kremlin on Aug. 31.
None of the cases has been solved.
The latest blast increased concern that the government might use the situation to declare a state of emergency. Yeltsin's opponents have claimed for months that he is looking for a chance to assume emergency powers so he can suppress his foes and bolster his hold on power.
But Yeltsin stressed Monday that emergency rule was not imminent.
''All the activities in the near future will be pursued in strict compliance with the Russian Constitution and legislation,'' he said.
AP-NY-09-13-99 1544EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
53 Die in Moscow Explosion
By BARRY RENFREW
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) -(Sept. 13, 1999) The second major explosion in the Russian capital in four days demolished a large apartment building today, killing at least 53 people. Officials said they were treating it as a terrorist attack.
The explosion left scores of people missing. The government ordered increased security across Russia and police appealed for help in finding a man they believed could be linked to today's explosion and a blast last week that killed 93 people at another apartment building.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said at least 43 people, including five children, were killed in today's blast, which leveled the eight-story building. Nine people were hospitalized, and 14 others treated for light injuries, it said.
President Boris Yeltsin ordered tight security at airports, nuclear power stations and other possible targets with special measures in Moscow.
``Terrorism has declared war on the Russian people,'' he said in an address on Russian television. He did not say who or what was behind the terrorist threat.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov vowed to clear the capital of any threat. ``The source of this terrorism we are naming as Chechen bandits,'' he said at the blast scene.
About 300 rescue workers searched the rubble of the building in a residential area of southern Moscow. The entire building crashed to the ground after the predawn explosion. Rescuers held out little hope of finding many survivors.
``It's not likely. We took one survivor from the rubble, but after that, it's all likely to be corpses,'' said Vladimir Legofhin of the Emergency Situations Ministry. ``If anyone is left alive, it would be an absolute wonder.''
The blast came four days after an explosion shattered another apartment building in Moscow. The explosions were four miles apart, and both buildings were among thousands of brick apartment houses that line the outskirts of Moscow.
About 150 people lived in the building hit today, although there were no reports on how many were home at the time of the blast, police said. They said they hoped many residents were away for the weekend at country cottages.
``My children and I woke up, and there were screams outside telling us that someone needed help,'' said Angela Karpova, who lives in an adjacent building. ``We ran outside and saw a woman wrap up a dead child and lay it down by an ambulance. It must have been a year old with tiny little legs.''
Stunned residents, many in their nightclothes, stood on the street staring at the wreckage. Smoke enveloped the remains of the building and firefighters extinguished flames in the rubble.
``This huge explosion shook me out of my bed and there was a huge cloud of dust. I understood immediately it was a bomb. I know there were many old people and children living in the building,'' said Vladimir Kanshin, who lived in a neighboring building.
The blast sprayed the surrounding area with jagged glass and rubble for hundreds of yards.
Police spokesman Vladimir Vershkov said the blast was being treated as a suspected bombing. The Federal Security Service, the country's main intelligence agency, was searching the scene for clues.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said after surveying the damage that the explosion appeared very similar to the blast on Thursday.
Police Col. Gen. Nikolai Kulikov appealed for public help in finding a man named Mukhit Laipanov, who allegedly had rented offices at both buildings.
Hours after the blast, police cleared people from three adjacent buildings after reports that explosives had been found in them. Police later said they discovered some industrial solvents, but no explosives.
Several officials, including Luzhkov, have linked Thursday's blast to the fighting in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, near Chechnya, where government troops are battling Islamic rebels who have occupied several villages.
Today's blast was the fourth major explosion in Russia in the past two weeks. They have left a total of nearly 200 people dead. None of the cases have been solved.
AP-NY-09-13-99 1052EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Report: Five Die in Moscow Blast
By BARRY RENFREW
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP)(Sept. 12, 1999) - An explosion destroyed an apartment building early Monday in Moscow, killing at least five people and leaving dozens of other residents missing and unaccounted for.
The pre-dawn blast wrecked an eight-story apartment building in the southern district of Moscow, just four days after an explosion shattered a similar building in the Russian capital. The blasts were in areas about four miles apart.
Police said at least five people, four adults and a child, were killed in the blast, which they suspected was caused by a bomb. The Interfax News Agency said eight bodies had been pulled from the wreckage.
More than 30 ambulances and fire engines were at the scene of the blast along with special rescue squads. The voices of survivors were heard in the rubble, and rescue workers with sniffer dogs were trying to find them.
Stunned local people, many in their nightclothes, stood on the street staring at the wreckage of the building. Smoke enveloped the remains of the building and firefighters extinguished flames in the rubble.
The blast sprayed the surrounding area with jagged glass and rubble for hundreds of yards.
Police at the scene said they did not know what had caused the blast, but were treating it as a terrorist incident.
The Federal Security Service, the country's main intelligence agency, said it was treating the incident as a suspected terrorist act. FSB agents were checking the scene of the explosion for possible clues.
The report followed an explosion Thursday that left at least 93 people dead when it shattered a Moscow apartment building. Interfax said the Monday's blast appeared very similar to the earlier explosion.
Russian officials had differed on what caused the first blast. A Chechen warlord denied Sunday that Islamic militants he commands were responsible for that explosion.
Several officials, including Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, have linked Thursday's blast to fighting in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, where government troops are battling Islamic rebels who have occupied several villages.
AP-NY-09-12-99 2323EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
93 Dead in Moscow Explosion
Dozens Trapped Under Rubble
By NICK WADHAMS
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (Sept. 9, 99) - Authorities searched for survivors and clues after a massive explosion tore apart a nine-story apartment building today, killing at least 20 people and leaving dozens more feared dead.
Rescue workers said more than 60 people were hospitalized with serious injuries after being pulled from the wreckage. Up to 100 people could be buried under the mounds of smoking debris, they said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the blast was apparently caused by a natural gas explosion. But other officials said it might have been a bomb.
''The nature of the damage and the number of casualties'' suggests an explosive device was placed in the building, the Federal Security Service, the country's main intelligence agency, said in a statement.
''It does not look like gas,'' added Sergei Shoigu, head of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
An anonymous caller told the Interfax news agency that the Moscow explosion and a Saturday night bomb blast in southern Russia were in response to Russia's military campaign against Islamic rebels in the southern territory of Dagestan. There was no way to determine the authenticity of the claim.
The powerful explosion shook the southeast Moscow neighborhood shortly after midnight. Early today, more than 100 rescuers were combing the wreckage for survivors. Fire and choking smoke made it unlikely that anyone trapped in the rubble had survived, rescue workers said.
''One thing's for sure, there are a lot more people in there. It's really unlikely there are any left alive,'' said Nikolai Vavkhenin, an emergency worker.
The blast completely collapsed all nine stories in the center section of the block-long building, but it left apartments standing on either side. The building is part of a huge complex of apartment buildings near fields and railway tracks.
Some people living in neighboring buildings were injured by flying glass and debris.
''I was watching television and suddenly there was a huge explosion. It was very quick and very strong,'' said a resident of the building who gave his name only as Marif. ''Our rooms filled with smoke, and the glass blew out of the windows. We ran onto the street as fast as we could.''
Rescue teams used cranes, bulldozers and dump trucks to remove mangled trees and huge slabs of shattered masonry.
The explosion shattered windows in buildings hundreds of yards from the blast and flipped over cars in surrounding streets. Several bodies were hurled more than 30 yards from the building.
''It was around midnight when there was such a powerful explosion and all the windows in my apartment were blown out. My balcony door was closed at the time, and it felt like the whole apartment was exploding,'' said a woman who lived in an adjacent building. She declined to give her name.
Sixty ambulances and 45 fire trucks were at the scene along with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and other senior officials.
''It was almost like something flew overhead and then exploded. We even joked at the time that it was a UFO,'' said another neighbor, who would only give her name as Marina.
Echo of Moscow, a radio station, said authorities were searching for a car that had been seen shortly before the explosion. The report did not say why the car was being sought.
A huge bomb blamed on Islamic radicals destroyed a military housing complex Saturday in the southern republic of Dagestan. The militants, who are fighting for a separate Islamic state, had threatened to strike targets in Russia.
A bomb in a shopping center in central Moscow last week killed one person. Authorities were trying to determine who was responsible for the attack.
Moscow has experienced natural gas explosions in the past because of the city's crumbling infrastructure, including a blast in July 1998 that killed six people.
AP-NY-09-09-99 0602EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four Dead, 167 Feared Buried In Moscow Blast
By Peter Graff
Reuters
MOSCOW (Sept. 8, 99) - Four people were killed and more than 150 were feared buried in rubble Thursday after a blast tore through a block of flats on the outskirts of Moscow as residents slept in their beds, officials said.
An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters 37 people had been dragged alive so far from the wrecked nine-story building -- now just a yawning hole in a line of apartment blocks -- and taken to hospital.
''It is already clear 202 people lived in these two entrances,'' the ministry spokeswoman said. ''There are still 167 unaccounted for.''
White smoke rose from the rubble and firefighters tackled small fires. Windows over a wide area were blown out. The body of young woman in her underwear lay amid the wreckage.
''The explosion was so powerful it blew me off my feet,'' said one witness who lives in the same street and gave his name as Volodya. ''I knew at least eight people, relatives and friends, in that block.''
The ministry spokeswoman said the cause of the blast had not been determined, although the preliminary conclusion was that it was a gas explosion. Police were on the scene investigating.
Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov both arrived at the site of the disaster to review the rescue operation.
Major-General Vyacheslav Muleshkin, deputy head of the city fire service, told reporters at the scene in southeast Moscow that four bodies had been recovered so far.
More than 200 firefighters and rescuers were at work using a range of heavy lifting equipment, he said. Sixty ambulances were on the scene.
The ministry spokeswoman said apartments above two of the six entrances to the block of flats at 19 Guryanov street had collapsed.
A Reuters reporter saw a huge tracked excavator trundling at high speed through the deserted streets of Moscow on its way to the scene with a police escort.
The blast occurred soon after midnight, when most people would have been asleep in their apartments.
Although there was no immediate suggestion of foul play, the blast followed a bomb explosion that injured dozens in a Moscow shopping mall last month and a devastating car-bomb attack last weekend that killed scores in an apartment block in the southern Dagestan region, where Russian forces are battling Islamic guerrillas.
Reut 20:41 09-08-99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russian Officers' Apartment Bombed
By NABI ABDULAYEV
.c The Associated Press
BUINAKSK, Russia (AP) - (Sept 5, 99) Rescue workers and frantic relatives searched for survivors Sunday after a bomb destroyed a five-story building housing the families of Russian army officers, leaving at least 22 dead and 102 injured.
Hours after the blast Saturday night in the southern republic of Dagestan, hundreds of Islamic fighters crossed the border from neighboring Chechnya and seized four villages. Russian officials blamed the bomb attack on Islamic militants, who have been battling federal forces in the region for the past month.
Hysterical and sobbing survivors called out the names of missing relatives and neighbors as rescue workers pulled away shattered walls and masonry. Police said some people were unaccounted for, but they could not say how many were missing.
``My wife and 13-year-old daughter were in a first-floor apartment. I feel that they are still alive, but we can't reach them,'' said Col. Kamil Gamidov, who lived in the building.
Authorities said the blast was caused by a powerful car bomb. A second bomb in another car was found and defused Sunday in the complex, they said.
The blast was in a military housing area of the Russian army's 156th Brigade. The dead and injured included many women and children. Angry residents demanded tough action against the militants.
``Damn you all,'' shouted one distraught woman. ``We will also go to fight.''
The blast left a crater nine feet deep next to the shattered building. The blast badly damaged two nearby buildings and shattered windows throughout the complex.
President Boris Yeltsin was ``deeply outraged'' by the bombing, presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin said Sunday.
Russian forces have been fighting Islamic rebels for the past month in Dagestan with bitter clashes in recent days in villages near Buinaksk. The fighting involves local Islamic rebels and their allies from neighboring Chechnya, which has de facto independence.
Shortly after the bombing, several hundred Islamic fighters crossed the border from Chechnya on Sunday, clashed with police and seized control of four villages, officials said. A Russian armored column was sent to the fighting in a district 40 miles northwest of Buinaksk.
First Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Kolesnikov said the bomb blast was directly linked to the militants' incursion from Chechnya.
Meanwhile, Russian forces on Sunday continued fighting Islamic rebels in villages not far from Buinaksk. Russian jets bombed two villages occupied by the militants, Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.
Muslim rebels took over a district near Buinaksk last year and have been running it according to their strict interpretation of Islamic law. Russian forces have been trying to clear them out for the past two weeks.
Buinaksk, Dagestan's second-largest city, had been named a potential target by the rebels, who occupied several towns in western Dagestan for two weeks in August. Chechen militant leader Shamil Basayev had warned he and his men would invade Buinaksk.
Another rebel leader, Khattab, said Saturday that militants' attacks on Russia were not over.
``The Moslems in the Caucasus have forces to solve any issues by military means,'' Khattab, who uses only one name, said several hours before the blast. His statement was reported by Interfax.
AP-NY-09-05-99 1118EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8-31-99
HUGE EXPLOSION IN MOSCOW SHOPPING MALL
30 Hurt As Video Game Machine Explodes
MOSCOW (AP) - A video game machine exploded today in an upscale shopping mall adjacent to the Kremlin, injuring 30 people injured, police said. Police said it was unclear whether the blast was planned or accidental. Fire officials evacuated the busy Manezh shopping center, an underground complex just outside the Kremlin's northwest wall. The explosion hit on the bottom floor of the complex in a room of video game machines. The game room is next to a huge food court, and both are popular hangouts for Russian teen-agers. The officer said three people were seriously injured and hospitalized.
Full Story
30 Injured in Moscow Mall Blast
By ANNA DOLGOV
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) - A video game machine exploded in an upscale shopping mall adjacent to the Kremlin on Tuesday, injuring 30 people, police said.
Viktor Biryukov, spokesman for the Moscow police, said it was unclear whether the blast was planned or accidental. He said the explosion, which hit at 8:04 p.m. (12:04 p.m. EDT), caused no fire.
Fire officials evacuated the busy Manezh shopping center, an underground complex just outside the Kremlin's northwest wall. The explosion hit on the bottom floor of the complex in a room of video game machines.
Television footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene, their lights whirring. The complex was roped off to keep onlookers from entering the mall.
The mall, which opened to much fanfare in 1997, includes top-name retailers. The game room is next to a huge food court, and both are popular hangouts for Russian teen-agers. Biryukov said three people were hospitalized, of 30 injured total.
The Moscow prosecutor's office opened a criminal case into the blast, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Bombings are often used in Russia to settle disputes between rival criminal gangs and businesses. There was no indication whether Tuesday's blast had organized crime connections.
The area around the Kremlin's high red brick walls has seen its share of violence recently.
In November, a man blew up his car just outside the Kremlin gates, wounding three guards. The man died of a heart attack in prison two months later.
In May, another man was detained after driving his car onto Red Square and threatening to set himself on fire unless police let him tell journalists about his problems. He set fire to a gasoline can and he was sent to a hospital emergency room.
AP-NY-08-31-99 1409EDT