Tag: suicide bombings

Putin Warns ‘Terrorists’ Face Total Destruction

Moscow (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned “terrorists” they face total destruction, after Russia was hit by double suicide bombings in its southern city of Volgograd that claimed 34 lives.

“Dear friends, we bow our heads in front of the victims of the terrible acts of terror. I am sure we will toughly and consistently continue to fight against terrorists until their total destruction,” he said.

Putin made the comments in a New Year’s address from the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, which is seven hours ahead of Moscow and where he met with victims of devastating summer floods.

“In the current year, we have encountered problems and have been challenged by serious experiences, including ones like the inhuman acts of terror in Volgograd,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Curiously, his New Year’s address that was broadcast earlier to the inhabitants of Russia’s furthest flung time zones of Magadan and Kamchatka did not mention the Volgograd attacks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had broken with a longstanding tradition by departing from the traditional New Year’s address which is normally recorded days in advance at the Kremlin.

“Here [in Khabarovsk] he made his New Year’s wishes and this became his New Year’s address. So he basically broke a long-standing tradition,” Peskov explained.

U.S. Calls For Closer Security Cooperation With Russia After Bombings

Washington (AFP) – The United States on Monday called for closer security cooperation with Russia ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics, after two deadly bombings in the city of Volgograd.

“The U.S. government has offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games, and we would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.

At least 14 people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a packed trolleybus in the city during the morning rush hour. On Sunday, another similar attack claimed 17 lives.

Hayden said that the United States “condemns the terrorist attacks that struck the Russian city of Volgograd and sends deepest condolences to the families of the victims with hopes for the rapid healing of those wounded.”

“The United States stands in solidarity with the Russian people against terrorism,” she said.

The attacks raised alarm about whether the ongoing anti-Kremlin insurgency in the Northern Caucasus could affect the Sochi Winter Games, which open on February 7.

Russia On Alert After Suicide Bombings Kill 31

Russia On Alert After Suicide Bombings Kill 31

Moscow (AFP) – At least 14 people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a packed trolleybus in Volgograd, raising new concerns about security at the Sochi Olympics a day after a deadly attack on the southern Russian city’s train station.

President Vladimir Putin ordered stepped-up security across the country after the trolleybus bombing at the peak of the morning rush and Sunday’s suicide attack blamed on a suspected female suicide bomber which claimed 17 lives.

The attacks on Volgograd, which until this year had no record of recent unrest, raised alarm about whether the ongoing anti-Kremlin insurgency in the Northern Caucasus could affect the Sochi Winter Games which open on February 7.

The force of Monday’s blast destroyed the number 15A trolleybus, which was packed with early morning commuters and was turned into a tangle of wreckage with only its roof and front remaining.

Health ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai told Russian state television that 14 people were killed and 28 wounded.

Russian investigators have opened a criminal probe into a suspected act of terror as well as the illegal carrying of weapons, the Investigative Committee said.

“The explosives were detonated by a male suicide bomber, fragments of whose body have been found and taken for genetic analysis to establish his identity,” said spokesman Vladimir Markin.

He said four kilograms (nine pounds) of TNT equivalent had been used and noted that the explosives were identical to those used in Sunday’s train station bombing.

“This confirms the theory that the two attacks are linked. It is possible that they were prepared in the same place,” he added.

French President Francois Hollande spoke to Putin by telephone and both sides agreed to “intensify cooperation between special services in the fight against terrorism,” the Kremlin said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also condemned the attacks.

Putin ordered security stepped up across Russia, with a special regime to be imposed in Volgograd, which lies 690 kilometres (425 miles) northeast of the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the national anti-terror committee announced.

Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov flew to Volgograd and asked citizens to be understanding about the extra security that may involve spot checks.

“It is a necessary measure,” he said.

Russia is already preparing to impose a “limited access” security cordon around Sochi from January 7 which will check all traffic and ban all non-resident cars from a wide area around the city.

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, said that there was no need for extra security measures in Sochi as “everything that is necessary has already been done,” ITAR-TASS reported.

The search for the perpetrators is expected to focus on Russia’s largely Muslim North Caucasus region where Islamist militants have for years been fighting the Russian security forces.

Doku Umarov, the leader of militants seeking to impose an Islamist state throughout Russia’s North Caucasus, has ordered rebels to target civilians outside the region and disrupt the Games.

“This looks like the North Caucasus underground. They promised to stage acts in big Russian cities ahead of the Olympics. It seems they are fulfilling their promise,” military affairs commentator Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.

Moscow city hall’s security chief Alexei Mayarov said precautions would be stepped up in the capital ahead of New Year, the biggest holiday of the year in Russia and traditionally marked by mass outdoor gatherings.

Reports said Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg had already cancelled its planned New Year fireworks display.

Militant strikes have become part of daily life in the North Caucasus. But the Volgograd blasts will be a particular concern to the authorities as the bomber struck a city of more than one million people in the Russian heartland.

The city, known as Stalingrad in the Soviet era, is of huge importance to Russians as the scene of one of the key battles of World War II that led to the defeat of invading Nazi forces.

The city was already attacked on October 21 by a female suicide bomber with links to Islamists who killed six people on a crowded bus.

Russia’s double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, Volgograd’s best known current inhabitant, told ITAR-TASS she felt “terrible, simply terrible” after the attacks.

The blasts are the deadliest in Russia since a suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport killed 37 people in January 2011.

Investigators said the suspected female suicide bomber who caused Sunday’s bombing set off her charge after being stopped by a police officer at the metal detectors of the central entrance to the station.

Unconfirmed reports identified the bomber as a Dagestani woman named Oksana Aslanova, a so-called “Black Widow” who had been married to two Islamists killed in battles with federal forces. Other reports however said the bomber could have been male.

AFP Photo

Clashes In Egypt As 150 Islamist Protesters Arrested

Clashes In Egypt As 150 Islamist Protesters Arrested

Cairo (AFP) – Nearly 150 pro-Islamist protesters were arrested as clashes erupted across Egypt Friday, after authorities vowed to crack down on rallies by the Muslim Brotherhood, now blacklisted as a terrorist group.

Riot police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters in several cities across the country, swiftly clamping down on the rallies after the end of midday Friday prayers, the usual time for Islamist demonstrations.

The military-installed government has outlawed protests by Brotherhood members demanding the reinstatement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, after the government listed the movement as a terrorist organization on Wednesday.

Smoke rose from Al-Azhar university’s student dormitory in Cairo as police fired tear gas, while protesters pelted them with rocks from inside the building, AFP correspondents said.

A security official said protesters torched several police cars in Cairo and the central Minya province.

Police seemed intent on hunting down any suspected protesters, with more than a dozen armored vehicles racing to a Cairo mosque after police received reports of Brotherhood members gathering.

The policemen combed nearby buildings searching for suspects. They dragged two men out of a car after seeing that they had gas masks with them.

Police also clashed with protesters in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, an AFP correspondent said, while state media reported that police fired tear gas at other protesters in Cairo.

The drastic decision to blacklist the Brotherhood came a day after a suicide bombing of a police building killed 15 people. The government blamed the attack on the Brotherhood despite a claim of responsibility from a Sinai-based jihadist group.

Tensions rose further after a homemade bomb went off next to a public transport bus on Thursday, wounding five people.

The interior ministry overnight said a man was killed in clashes around Al-Azhar university between Islamist students and civilians who oppose them.

The Brotherhood, which condemned Tuesday’s suicide bombing, has denounced its listing as a terrorist organization and vowed to continue holding peaceful rallies.

It has held near-daily protests since the military ousted Morsi on July 3, despite a crackdown that has killed more than 1,000 people, mainly Islamists, and seen thousands more arrested.

The Brotherhood’s designation as a terrorist group carries harsh penalties, with the group’s leaders facing possible death sentences and participants in protests looking at up to five years in prison.

The move caps a dramatic fall for the Brotherhood since Morsi was overthrown on July 3 amid massive protests demanding the his resignation following a year of deepening polarization and plummeting economic conditions.

The Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s and has condemned the surge in attacks by Sinai-based militants, which have killed more than 100 soldiers and police, mainly in the restive peninsula bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

But the military-installed government accuses the Brotherhood of using violence to derail a transition to elected rule, with a referendum on a new constitution planned for January to be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki