This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/29/volgograd-train-station-suicide-bombing
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Volgograd train station rocked by suicide bombing | Volgograd train station rocked by suicide bombing |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Sixteen people were killed and another 50 injured after a suicide bombing at a railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd that highlighted the region's security vulnerability just six weeks before the Winter Olympics. | Sixteen people were killed and another 50 injured after a suicide bombing at a railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd that highlighted the region's security vulnerability just six weeks before the Winter Olympics. |
| The blast ripped through an area between the station entrance and metal frames that had been installed as a precaution against terror attacks. There were conflicting reports on the identity of the perpetrator; the authorities first indicated that a young woman from the Caucasus may have been responsible, as in previous attacks in Russia over the past decade. But latterly, news agencies reported that it was a man wearing a rucksack who was behind the attack, though he may not have been acting alone. | The blast ripped through an area between the station entrance and metal frames that had been installed as a precaution against terror attacks. There were conflicting reports on the identity of the perpetrator; the authorities first indicated that a young woman from the Caucasus may have been responsible, as in previous attacks in Russia over the past decade. But latterly, news agencies reported that it was a man wearing a rucksack who was behind the attack, though he may not have been acting alone. |
| CCTV video shows a bright flash of light inside the station building as the camera, located several hundred metres across the square, shakes from the impact. A cloud of smoke emerges seconds later. Pictures on social networks show people trying to help the injured lying on ice-covered ground in front of the palatial Stalin-era station building, its windows smashed by the blast. | CCTV video shows a bright flash of light inside the station building as the camera, located several hundred metres across the square, shakes from the impact. A cloud of smoke emerges seconds later. Pictures on social networks show people trying to help the injured lying on ice-covered ground in front of the palatial Stalin-era station building, its windows smashed by the blast. |
| Among the dead were a 12-year-old boy, whose father survived but lost a leg. Witnesses reported seeing many corpses bodies near the entrance. "I heard the blast and ran towards it," a witness, Vladimir, told Rossiya-24. "I saw melted, twisted bits of metal, broken glass and bodies lying on the street." | Among the dead were a 12-year-old boy, whose father survived but lost a leg. Witnesses reported seeing many corpses bodies near the entrance. "I heard the blast and ran towards it," a witness, Vladimir, told Rossiya-24. "I saw melted, twisted bits of metal, broken glass and bodies lying on the street." |
| The emergencies ministry sent specially equipped aircraft to take those with the worst injuries to Moscow hospitals, where they could get better treatment. President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences and sent a deputy prime minister, Olga Golodets, to the scene. He also ordered law enforcement agencies to take all necessary measures to ensure security. A federal police spokesman, Vladimir Kolesnikov, said security would be stepped up at railway stations and airports. | The emergencies ministry sent specially equipped aircraft to take those with the worst injuries to Moscow hospitals, where they could get better treatment. President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences and sent a deputy prime minister, Olga Golodets, to the scene. He also ordered law enforcement agencies to take all necessary measures to ensure security. A federal police spokesman, Vladimir Kolesnikov, said security would be stepped up at railway stations and airports. |
| Earlier a statement by the Russian national anti-terrorist committee said the explosion was presumed to have been caused by a female suicide bomber, amid reports that the attacker's head had been retrieved. One report identified the perpetrator as a Dagestani woman by the name of Oksana Aslanova, widow of a militant. | Earlier a statement by the Russian national anti-terrorist committee said the explosion was presumed to have been caused by a female suicide bomber, amid reports that the attacker's head had been retrieved. One report identified the perpetrator as a Dagestani woman by the name of Oksana Aslanova, widow of a militant. |
| A criminal case has been launched under the terrorism and illegal handling of weapons clauses of the Russian criminal code. | A criminal case has been launched under the terrorism and illegal handling of weapons clauses of the Russian criminal code. |
| Russian media reports, quoting law-enforcement sources, said that the explosion happened after a police officer tried to stop a suspicious young woman near security gates installed to prevent guns and explosives being taken inside the station. Security officials expressed hope that the bomber would be soon identified. | Russian media reports, quoting law-enforcement sources, said that the explosion happened after a police officer tried to stop a suspicious young woman near security gates installed to prevent guns and explosives being taken inside the station. Security officials expressed hope that the bomber would be soon identified. |
| Soldiers found an unexploded grenade at the scene, Vladimir Markin, an investigative committee spokesman, told the news agency RIA. He said the metal frames installed at the entrances of all Russian railway stations and airports – a security measure often ridiculed in the Russian media – had prevented more casualties. A train from Moscow was due to arrive half an hour after the explosion took place. | Soldiers found an unexploded grenade at the scene, Vladimir Markin, an investigative committee spokesman, told the news agency RIA. He said the metal frames installed at the entrances of all Russian railway stations and airports – a security measure often ridiculed in the Russian media – had prevented more casualties. A train from Moscow was due to arrive half an hour after the explosion took place. |
| Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is a railway hub on the route connecting European Russia with central Asia. It acts as a gateway to the Caucasus, and is 600 miles from Sochi, the Black Sea city where the Olympics are scheduled to start on 7 February. Russian authorities have insisted there will be no security threats to the event, despite the city lying just west of the restive North Caucasus region. In July Doku Umarov, leader of the remaining Chechen jihadist groups, warned that militants would try sabotage the Games. | Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is a railway hub on the route connecting European Russia with central Asia. It acts as a gateway to the Caucasus, and is 600 miles from Sochi, the Black Sea city where the Olympics are scheduled to start on 7 February. Russian authorities have insisted there will be no security threats to the event, despite the city lying just west of the restive North Caucasus region. In July Doku Umarov, leader of the remaining Chechen jihadist groups, warned that militants would try sabotage the Games. |
| A Russian security expert, Andrey Soldatov, said the attack showed militants operating in the North Caucasus region had "the capability and enough people to stage bombing attacks" on the eve of the Sochi Olympics. "The symbolism is in the fact that the militants are capable of staging attacks beyond the North Caucasus. The tactical significance is that security forces will now have to divert their attention from Sochi to other regions of Russia." It was unlikely the Kremlin would need to reconsider security in Sochi, Soldatov added. But it will have to take into account the possibility of attacks taking place elsewhere around the country.Volgograd was the scene of a blast two months ago on a crowded bus, an attack also blamed on a female suicide bomber, from Dagestan, a few hundred miles from Volgograd. | A Russian security expert, Andrey Soldatov, said the attack showed militants operating in the North Caucasus region had "the capability and enough people to stage bombing attacks" on the eve of the Sochi Olympics. "The symbolism is in the fact that the militants are capable of staging attacks beyond the North Caucasus. The tactical significance is that security forces will now have to divert their attention from Sochi to other regions of Russia." It was unlikely the Kremlin would need to reconsider security in Sochi, Soldatov added. But it will have to take into account the possibility of attacks taking place elsewhere around the country.Volgograd was the scene of a blast two months ago on a crowded bus, an attack also blamed on a female suicide bomber, from Dagestan, a few hundred miles from Volgograd. |
| On Friday an explosion killed three people near a police station in the North Caucasus city of Pyatigorsk. | On Friday an explosion killed three people near a police station in the North Caucasus city of Pyatigorsk. |
| In November a man wearing an explosive-packed belt was arrested in the Stavropol area, also southern Russia. | In November a man wearing an explosive-packed belt was arrested in the Stavropol area, also southern Russia. |
| 'Black widows' | |
| Militants fighting to create an Islamic emirate in the North Caucasus started using women to conduct bombing attacks in the late 1990s. By the middle of the next decade at least half of the attacks on civilians outside the conflict zone involved women – many of them young widows of militants killed in action. The women have come to be known as the "black widows". | |
| These tactics came into the spotlight during the 2002 attack on the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow, in which 20 out of 41 perpetrators appeared to be women. Two years later, two women orchestrated the simultaneous suicide bombing of two Russian aircraft that killed 90 people. | |
| In 2010, female suicide bombers staged two simultaneous attacks in the Moscow metro. One of them, Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova, was only 17, but already a widow of a Dagestani militant leader. Following an October blast on a bus in Volgograd, the attacker was identified as 31-year-old Naida Asiyalova from Dagestan. | |
| Russia media reported that while living Moscow, Asiyalova had a relationship with 21-year-old Dmitry Sokolov, an ethnic Russian from Siberia, who under her influence converted into Islam and became a prominent explosives expert in the Dagestani insurrection movement. Russian security officials claim he assembled the bomb set off by his fiancee in Volgograd. He was proclaimed dead in November after a skirmish with Russian security forces. | |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |