The Hindu : Suicide attack on Russian train kills 40

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 06, 2003

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Suicide attack on Russian train kills 40

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW DEC. 5. A suicide bomb attack in a commuter train in South Russia near Chechnya killed 40 people and injured about 160 today in what was said to be an attempt to jolt the country ahead of a parliamentary poll on Sunday.

A bomb ripped through the second car of a suburban train packed with students when it was just outside the town of Essentuki, about 150 km from Chechnya, during the morning peak hour at 7.45 local time. A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry said 31 bodies were pulled out from the wrecked carriage, and nine more died in hospital later. The explosion was so powerful that half the car was torn to pieces. The bomb was packed with bolts and nails for greater killing effect, security officials said.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, described the attack as an "attempt to destabilise the situation in the country ahead of parliamentary elections" being held on Sunday, but said the criminals would not succeed.

The head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, said the attack seemed to have been carried out by three women and a man. Two women were seen jumping from the train moments before the blast and the man with unexploded grenades strapped to his legs was found among the dead inside the car. Security services warned a few days ago that the Chechen warlord, Shamil Basayev, had dispatched several suicide squads to stage terrorist attacks in different parts of Russia.

Today's bomb blast is the second attack in a commuter train on the same rail road since September, when a bomb planted under a local train killed four persons and wounded over 30. The blast was blamed on Chechen terrorists, but none has been detained so far.

A spate of suicide bomb attacks in and around Chechnya as well as in Moscow has killed over 300 people this year.

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