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At Least 20 People Killed In New Bomb Blast in Chechnya
Gazeta.ru
May 14, 2003
A woman suicide bomber blew herself up in the middle of a Muslim religious festival in Russia's rebel Chechnya on Wednesday and officials said more than 20 people had been killed and scores wounded.
The Kremlin's office on Chechnya and other officials said the latest attack, which followed a suicide bombing on Monday that killed 59 people, took place in mid-afternoon east of the regional capital, Grozny. "A woman terrorist blew herself up in a crowd of Muslim believers who had gathered for celebrations," a Chechen information department official, reached by telephone, told Reuters. "Most of the victims were elderly," the official said.
The latest suicide attack came just two days after three suicide bombers drove a truck loaded with explosives into a government office complex in the north of the separatist-minded region. The two attacks took place just seven weeks after a Kremlin-organised constitutional referendum that anchored the rebellious Muslim region firmly in Russia.
After Monday's bomb, President Vladimir Putin vowed to stick to his peace plan for the region to end nearly 10 years of armed conflict between separatist fighters and Russian forces that has cost thousands of lives. The latest attack came just as Putin was preparing for talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on the U.S.-led war on terrorism, which Russia has backed.
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