Moscow ups the ante in struggle with Caucasus seperatists

If Sibel Edmonds' contentions are correct this is exactly what we could expect to see after the Boston bombings.

Car bomb explosion kills 4, injures 46 in Dagestan, southern Russia

Car bomb explosion kills 4, injures 46 in Dagestan, southern Russia

RT,

20 May, 2013

Double car bomb explosion killed four and injured at least 46 as blasts struck outside the headquarters of the court bailiffs' service in the capital of Russia’s Dagestan Republic, Makhachkala.

The first car with the explosive placed underneath reportedly went off causing no fatalities or injuries. Once law enforcement arrived at the scene, the second bomb detonated, Interfax reported citing the local Investigative Committee.

“As far as I know there are three people dead. One of them is our employee,” spokesperson of the Court Bailiffs' Service Magomed Buttaev told RT.

The death toll rose to four people after another man, an employee of the court bailiffs' service, died of his injuries in hospital, according an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Initial reports suggested eight people died at the scene, Interfax news agency reported.

At the site where bombs exploded near the bailiff service building in Makhachkala on May 20, 2013. (RIA Novosti)

“Two cars were detonated within several minutes. At least eight people have

Two cars were detonated within several minutes. At least eight people have been killed, while the number of injured is being clarified. More than 20 cars have been damaged,” the agency quoted the representative of Dagestan’s Investigative Committee.

However, the chief physician in Dagestan, Kazanfar Kurbanov, has later confirmed that three people died and 24 were injured. 

“There have been 46 people hospitalized,” Interfax reported citing its source.

As said, the blasts occurred approximately 15 minutes apart from each other with the two bombs were detonated remotely.  

Interfax quotes a source who said that an explosive was also found in a trash can.

“It has already been established that the first explosive was placed under the car,” one of the spokesman told media.

The force of the second blast was the equivalent of up to 50 kg of TNT, Rasul Temirbekov from the local Investigative committee told ITAR-TASS, adding that the first blast was less powerful, nearly causing damage to nearby parked cars.

Law enforcement officers working at the site where bombs exploded near the bailiff service building in Makhachkala on May 20, 2013. (RIA Novosti / Arsen Abdullayev)

According to law enforcement officials, perpetrators clearly used a tactic which is quite common in Dagestan, when the first blast is bait to attract more people and the second explosion goes off when people are at the scene, thus According to law enforcement officials, perpetrators clearly used a tactic which is quite common in Dagestan, when the first blast is bait to attract more people and the second explosion goes off when people are at the scene, thus injuring and killing law enforcement members..

“The majority of injured are police officers who arrived at the scene after the first blast. There are at least 15 of them now,” ITAR-TASS quotes the local Interior Ministry.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has sent doctors and psychologists from Moscow to Makhachkala. The IL-76 jet will deliver 26 specialists to Dagestan, and then return with victims of the blast to Moscow hospitals if needed.

No one has claimed responsibility for the double blast, with no suspects yet identified. Investigators have said they will use the registration plates of one of the vehicles involved, in a bid to track down the culprits.


“We plan to ID the owner of the exploded car and unravel the case trough this information,” an investigative committee spokesperson said. There's a belief that the car was stolen.

In a recent incident near a shopping center on May 1, two teenagers were killed and another two injured as they tried to uncover the dangerous object, wrapped up either in a box or a bag.

FSB prevents terror act in Moscow by militants trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan

Russia’s FSB has foiled a terror attack in Moscow as they managed to kill two and detain one of the militants planning it, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.

RT,

20 May, 2013

"Our forceful actions prevented an attempted act of terror in the capital," the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a statement.

“According to some information, the militants were under surveillance during the past month,” a source from  one of the intelligence agencies told RIA Novosti.

The three men are “Russian citizens, arrived from Afghani-Pakistani region, where they have been trained,” the committee said. All three are said to practice Islam.

Some reports suggest that the militants underwent training in Pakistan's Northern Waziristan, however, it is unknown which group they belong to.

“The information about their possible involvement in the ‘Islamic movement of Uzbekistan’ is being checked. Moreover, special forces are trying to find out if there were contacts and connection with militants among Moscow regions residents,” RIA Novosti reported, citing an intelligence agency source.

According to Russian special services, Waziristan is a hotbed of Taliban extremism.

"There are also training camps for terrorists who come from all over the world. The US authorities have repeatedly appealed to the government of Pakistan with a proposal to hold an operation to eliminate militants, Pakistan, however, has been refusing," Interfax quoted its source from intelligence service as saying.

image from http://oz-on.ru

As FSB forces approached the house in a small town in the Moscow region and demanded the suspected militants to surrender, the men opened fire in response.

“In the exchange of fire two of them were killed and one detained,” the statement reads.

One Special Forces officer has sustained a wound of his leg and was taken to local hospital. There are no casualties or injuries among civilians.

It was not specified where the terror attack was planned to take place. But, a source in one of Russia’s intelligence agencies told RIA Novosti, it was to be in central Moscow.

“The information about the specific location is not being made public in the interests of the investigation,”the source said.

Moscow has seen a number of sporadic terrorist attacks in the past years with the last one taking place in the arrival zone of local International airport Domodedovo in January 2011.  Thirty-six people were killed and over 180 injured. In March 2010, the Moscow Metro bombings killed 41 people and injured about one hundred.

image from http://oz-on.ru