terrorism in Moscow

Timetable of Moscow blast.

07:52 Explosion at Lubyanka station in central Moscow. Two carriages were destroyed, 24 people dead, 39 injured.
08:30 Evacuation of Lubyanka station completed.
08:36. Explosion at Park Kultury station in the third wagon of the train. 12 people dead, 23 injured.
09:05 Criminal investigation into terrorist attacks opened.
09:10 FSB head Alexander Bortnikov informs President Dmitry Medvedev of the explosions.
09:15 Prosecutor's Office employees start work at the scenes of the attacks.
09:15 Traffic police advise people not to drive into the city centre.
09:25 Traffic in Moscow paralysed because of the explosions.
09:30 Prosecutor General Yury Chaika says he will control the investigation personally.
09:39 More than 70 ambulances took injured commuters from the blast sites.
09:50 Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov arrives at Park Kultury station. Head of Traffic police Sergei Kazantsev, head of Mosgortrans Pyotr Ivanov and the leaders of Moscow Emercom are all there. No less than 100 fire engines are at Park Kultury station. Movement of transport on Sadovoye Koltso is restricted.
09:56 Moscow police switch to an intensified schedule, working both on finding the people responsible and preventing any further attacks.
10:06 An airmobile hospital is set up next to Park Kultury.
10:21 Mobile phone lines in Moscow collapse under the increased volume of calls.
10:26 The explosions were intended to cause more casualties, says Luzhkov.
10:33 Sergei Shoigy, head of the emergency services, reported to Medvedev on the attacks.
10:55 More than 50 Muscovites apply for help after nervous breakdowns.
11:09 Rail station and airport security increased.
11:31 Metro services on the affected lines to be restored in 3.5 hours after all checks are done.
11:35 The Serbsky institute opens a hotline for those affected by the explosions.
11:41 Additional security measures introduced on the St. Petersburg metro.
11:49 Investigators announce that plastic explosives were used at Park Kultury, about 1.5kg of TNT. Video footage from surveillance cameras is taken for police scrutiny.
12:03 The State Duma should hold a parliamentary investigation of the explosions, thinks Lyubov Sliska, Vice Speaker of Duma.
12:07 Half of those injured in the explosions are said to be in a serious condition.
12:09 The prosecutor's office announces it is investigating a theory that terrorist groups from Caucasus are responsible for the explosions.
12:10 No children were caught up in the blasts, officials report.
12:06 Russian Railways increases passenger and baggage control on the train stations.
12:15 Details are circulated of two women wanted for questioning in connection with helping the bombers, Interfax reports.

12:17 Fragments of an alleged suicide bomber's body found on Park Kultury.

12:19 The terrorists used explosive devices without shells, investigators say.

12:21 Rosaviation demands tighter security measures at all airports in Russia.
12:22 Emercom psychologists start work with the injured.
12:23 Riot police officers, some of them with dogs, patrol metro entrances.
12:28 NATO and EU denounce the terrorist acts.

12:34 Terrorists may be identified as their faces were not harmed in the explosion, says Vladimir Markin.

12:40 Moscow Metro was almost empty after the explosions, taxis reportedly charge up to 10 times the usual fares.
12:42 Medvedev announces a meeting on dealing with the consequences of the explosions.
12:46 The number of confirmed injuries rose to 64.
12:50 Medvedev demanded tighter security control in the country.
12:52 Park Kultury circle station entrance opened. The radial line remains closed
13:08 A North Caucasus terror group may be responsible for the explosions, FSB chief Bortnikov said in a meeting with the President.

13:16 Hexogen used in the explosions, said the FSB.

13:33 Lists of the dead and injured published on Emercom website.
13:44 Announcement of a day of mourning in Moscow on Tuesday.
14:07 The two women that helped the bombers are said to have Slavic appearance.
14:08 Emercom starts moving the bodies out of Lubyanka station.
14:41 Emercom starts moving the bodies out of Park Kultury station.
17:13 The number of victims rose to 38 people. 22 of them were identified, 19 men and 3 women.


Initial thoughts...

• It's curious that the second explosion occurred just a few minutes after the first station had been evacuated.
• Hexogen, also known as RDX, is commonly used in military and industrial applications.
• Women suicide bombers. Women accomplices.

Al Qaeda?

^^^^^^^




Putin looks pissed.

Who are these terrorists?

^^^^^^^

Late last month, Russian drug control chief Viktor Ivanov explained that a large drug trafficking route had shifted. Instead of going from Afghanistan and southeast through Pakistan and into India, drug trafficking has shifted west through Iran and then north through Azerbaijan. Georgia plays a large role in this new route.

"According to our data and information from foreign sources, the high level of corruption among Georgian authorities is preventing the fight against drug transit across the country from being effective," Ivanov said.

And in the northeast corner of Georgia, Pankisi Gorge. "Russian-Georgian relations have long been strained over the presence of Chechen rebels in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and Georgia's refusal to let Russian troops flush the rebels out."  (source)

The militants hide out in very beautiful, ancient places, where people have lived in peace, close to the land, for centuries.

Is that fair?

Pankisi Gorge is the little red mark in the northeast corner

^^^^^^^

There have been many reports over the past few years of al Qaeda linked terrorists in the Northern Caucasus.

September 2004: al Qaeda tie to Beslan school massacre probed

November 2007: al Qaeda associate, Doku Umarov, declares Islamic Caucasus emirate

February 2009: al Qaeda has gained strength in North Caucasus

August 2009: notorious al Qaeda militant from Algeria killed by Russian forces

March 2010: associate of Doku Umarov killed by Russian forces



Some groups in the Northern Caucasus have been linked to Wahabbi Islam and Saudi Arabia.

The Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR), designated by the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization Feb. 28, 2002 , is a Chechen terror group engaged in a bloody, ethno-nationalist struggle for the independence of the Republic of Chechnya and Ichkeria from almost 150 years of Russian subjugation.  While most of the citizens of Chechnya adhere to a mild form of Sufi Islam — mysticism based on certain indigenous pre-Islamic traditions — members of the SPIR are Sunni Islamic radicals, imbued with a passionate fundamentalism of the Wahhabi creed, who, along with two other Chechen groups recently added as terrorist organizations, have appropriated the tactics of international terrorism with Islamic connections as a means to advance their nationalist objectives.  The Oct. 23, 2002 , attack on Moscow ’s Poshipnikov Zavod Dubrovka Theater was a case in point — an al Qaeda-style attack that possibly could portend things to come.  This would especially be true if SPIR and other groups decide to sabotage the results of the March 23 referendum, where Chechens voted overwhelmingly for political autonomy while remaining a part of Russia .

But while the SPIR shares the desire for independence with the mainstream Chechen population, who are moderates and largely reject fundamentalist ideologies, their interests are not the same.  The SPIR, in addition to Chechen independence, seek the implementation of their fundamentalist ideology throughout the Caucasus region as well.  This would mean, ideally, areas from the North Caucasus republics in Russia , Abkhazia in Georgia , and parts of Azerbaijan would be under the rule of an Islamic caliphate.  SPIR has managed to muddy the mainstream Chechen struggle through violent acts of terrorism and promotion of its preferred version of Islam.  As Wahhabists, the SPIR and similar groups have transformed the Chechen struggle for national liberation into the appearances of a religiously-inspired rebellion, jihad, with direct links to the most notorious and pernicious terror group the world has ever seen. 

In 2005, Israel reportedly invited one of Putin's deputies for the Northern Caucasus to Tel Aviv for a meeting to discuss building a security fence between Stavropol in the south of Russia and Chechnya and Daghestan in the North Caucasus.

The information on Dmitry Kozak's planned visit to Israel came before an armed conflict in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, the city of Nalchik. This republic is in the central part of Northern Caucasus and also has the common border with Stavropol territory. Yesterday's fights in Nalchik will push the Russian authorities even more strongly towards activization of cooperation with Israelis, including in erection of the protective wall on Caucasus.

...In both of these republics, regardless of the massive presence of the army units and various security services, the Kremlin is unable to establish order for 15 years already. Every day the skirmish and explosions, and even massive military operations of the government forces against the local supporters of independence or of the radical Islam, take place there. As a result, the Russian authorities decided to ask Israelis for help, taking into consideration the effectiveness of the security fence separating Israel from the West bank of Jordan river.

...According to information available, Kozak also plans to meet with the head of Israeli Foreign Intelligence Mossad, Meir Dagan. If this meeting takes place, it will mean that the members of the Russian delegation come to Israel not only to discuss the security fence project (this issue is absolutely out of Mossad's competence).

Does Russia really need Israel, and Israel's "help"? Does any country really need Israel? It's laughable. And it's a lot more laughable now than it was in 2005.

But Israel has their little pet Saakashvili in Georgia. And Georgia just happens to be so strategically located. According to a widely circulated article this month by Eric Wahlberg, Russia Azerbaijan/Armenia: All Roads Lead to the Caucasus, US special forces trained Georgian troops in the Pankisi Gorge for five years.

Interestingly, from 2002-2007, more than 200 US Special Forces troops were training Georgian troops in Pansiki, though neither the Americans nor the Georgians were able to end the attacks on Russia.

Why do you suppose they weren't able to end the attacks on Russia hmm?

And did they bump into any al Qaeda linked rebels there in the gorge?

Maybe they share pup tents.