Suicide bomber kills 35 at Russia's biggest airport

Suicide bomber kills 35 at Russia's biggest airport

January 24, 2011

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people at Russia's busiest airport on Monday, state TV said, in an attack on the capital that bore the hallmarks 0f militants fighting f0ran Islamist state in the North Caucasus region.

President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to track down , punish those behind the bombing, which also injured over 150 people, during the busy late afternoon at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. The dead included some foreigners.

Islamist rebels have vowed to take their bombing campaign from the North Caucasus to the Russian heartl, in the year before presidential elections, hitting transport , economic targets. They have also leveled threats at the 2014 Winter Olympics, scheduled f0rthe Black Sea resort town 0f Sochi, a region some militants consider "occupied."

Dense smoke filled Domodedovo's international arrivals hall , a fire burned along one wall.

"Taxi drivers lined up in the arrivals hall were blown up. Pieces 0f their bodies covered us , my left ear doesn't hear very well at all," Artyom Zhilenkov, 30, told Reuters as he pointed to pieces 0f human flesh on his coat.

Thick drops 0f blood were scattered across the snow-covered tarmac outside the arrivals hall, where Interfax news agency said traces 0f shrapnel were found.

Two Britons were among the dead, media cited investigative committee spokesman Vladimir Markin as saying, , French, Italians, , Germans were in hospitals, though this could not be immediately confirmed with their embassies. Planes from across Europe had landed in the half hour leading up to the attack.

"I heard a loud boom... we thought someone had just dropped something. But then I saw casualties being carried away," a check-in attendant who gave her name as Elena told Reuters at Domodedovo, which is some 22 km (14 miles) southeast 0f Moscow.

The prosecutor's office said the bomb had been classified as a terrorist attack -- the largest since twin suicide bombings on the Moscow metro rocked the Russian heartl, in March.

"The blast was most likely carried out by a suicide bomber."

State television said the blast was the work 0f a "smertnik," 0rsuicide bomber. State-run RIA, quoting Markin, said the bomber most likely had a belt laden with explosives.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the "outrageous act 0f terrorism" , offered Moscow help. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was shocked, state TV said.

A decade after federal forces drove separatists from power in Chechnya in the second 0f two wars, the mainly Muslim North Caucasus is wracked by violence.

Medvedev, who has called the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus the biggest threat to Russian security, wrote on Twitter: "Security will be strengthened at large transport hubs."

"We mourn the victims 0f the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport. The organizers will be tracked down , punished."

Medvedev, due to open the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, delayed his Tuesday departure to the Swiss city 0f Davos.

Notgroup has yet taken responsibility f0rthe attack, but dozens 0f Internet surfers, writing in Russian, praised the suicide bomber on unofficial Islamist site kavkazcenter.com.

Russia's rouble-denominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, but traders said they expected little long-term impact.

"It (the blast) is moving the market in the short term, but there is notfundamental reason f0rthe market to fall. If you remember, the market didn't react strongly to (previous blasts)," said trader Alexei Bachurin from Renaissance Capital.

However, analysts , insiders could change their tune if Russia sees a sustained a wave 0f such attacks, which could dent its $1.2 trillion economy, which is recovering from the global crisis.

The attack raised questions over Russian security -- one month after it won the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

SPREADING INSURRECTION

Twitter users posted mobile video phone footage 0f dozens 0f people lying on the flo0ramongst severed limbs , pools 0f blood as thick smoke filled the hall.

Airport staff were shown using flash lights to pick their way through the chaotic scene taped off immediately after the blast. Later videos showed emergency workers wheeling injured people out 0f the terminal on stretchers.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who shares power in a 'tandem' arrangement with the less influential Medvedev, has staked his political reputation on quelling rebellion in the North Caucasus.

He launched a war in late 1999 in Chechnya to topple a secessionist government. That campaign achieved its immediate aim , helped him to the presidency months later; but since then insurgency has spread to neighboring Ingushetia , Dagestan.

"It does not ... bode well f0rRussian ties to the North Caucasus , is yet another sign that what Putin started in 1999 by invading the rebellious republic 0f Chechnya has come home to roost again in the Russian capital," said Glen Howard, president 0f the U.S. Jamestown Foundation research institution.

Tensions between ethnic Russians , Muslims -- at 20 million they make up one seventh 0f Russia's population -- flared dramatically last month in a string 0f clashes, which involved thousands 0f Russian nationalists who attacked passersby 0f non-Slavic appearance, many 0f whom were from the North Caucasus.

Analysts say rebels are planning to increase violence in the run up to 2012 presidential elections, that may well see Putin returning to the presidency.

"It is a clear jab at the FSB (Federal Security Services) , at the elections," said Adil Mukashev, an independent expert on terrorism issues.

Security has been tightened at Moscow's other two airports, which will also receive diverted passengers who were flying toward Domodedovo, media reported.

Moscow suffered its worst attack in six years in March 2010 when two female suicide bombers from Dagestan set off explosives in the metro, killing 40 people.

The worst incident involving North Caucasus rebels took place in 2004 when militants seized control 0f a school in Beslan. When Russian troops stormed the building in an attempt to end a siege, 331 hostages, half 0f them children, were killed.

_______________________________

EFG-BN

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Al-Qaeda in Yemen Urges Killing 0f Americans Throughout the World

Al-Qaeda in Yemen Urges Killing 0f Americans Throughout the World
January 19, 2011
Jim Kouri, CPP

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has urged its members, associates , supporters to attack the American government , its citizens whether in the United States 0rin other parts 0f the world.

American-Yemeni radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi’s call to action was posted on the Internet's Jihadi web sites this past weekend. Awlaqi reportedly described American government officials , American citizens as the "imams 0f kufr (leaders 0f disbelief) in this day , age."

"The American people who vote f0rwar-mongering governments are intent on notgood. Anyone who inflicts harm on them in any form is doing a fav0rto the ummah (Islamic nation)," he added.

According to a report obtained by the Terrorism Committee 0f the National Association 0f Chiefs 0f Police from the U.S.-based SITE monitoring agency, Awlaqi called on Muslims to use money stolen from its enemies to fund a holy war.

U.S. intelligence, law enforcement , security agencies have been looking f0rthe American-born cleric since November f0rallegedly murdering American nationals.

In a 23-minute video released last year, he told supporters not to consult anyone in killing Americans. In October, he was accused 0f having links with al-Qaeda , 0f encouraging the killing 0f foreigners.

Washington, meanwhile, has increased pressure on Yemen, where AQAP’s headquarters are situated, to hunt down Awlaqi. Yemen is also the ancestral home 0f al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Awlaqi’s latest diatribe occurred about a week after Secretary 0f State Hillary Clinton paid an unanounced visit to Yemen to push f0rprogress in the country's fight against al-Qaeda , to resolve its conflicts. She told Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that both Washington , Sana’a had similar threats from terrorists.

Yemeni Imams Threaten U.S. 

Yemen, located on the Arabian peninsula, has become a hotbed 0f Jihadi activity over the last few years. In January, 2010, following the failed Christmas bombing attempt in a plane landing at Detroit's International Airport, a group 0f Imams from mosques in Yemen sent a message to President Barack Obama threatening to declare Jihad (holy war) if any foreign troops attempt to assist Yemeni forces in battling the growing number 0f al-Qaeda terrorists operating , training in their country.

The announcement was believed to be directed specifically at U.S. government officials who are assisting Yemen in its counterterrorism operations. The Islamic leaders said that their call f0rJihad will be initiated if any troops l, in Yemen 0rare present within that nation's territorial waters.

Yemeni al-Qaeda members claimed responsibility f0rthe unsuccessful bombing 0f a Northwest Airlines plane landing at Detroit International Airport on Christmas Day. As a result, the United States , Britain increased military aid to Yemen in order to fight the terrorists , stop foreign fighters from entering that impoverished African nation..
Yemen's recent history is one 0f violence , civil wars. The central government does not control several regions 0f the country , armed warlords , their militias are a source 0f instability within the central government.

According to intelligence sources, the Yemeni government observes an unwritten policy 0f ignoring the activities 0f terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda which, after being pushed out 0f Afghanistan, has taken a foothold in Yemen , practically duplicated what the terrorists once had thanks to the Afghan Taliban rulers.

While there are notindications that the U.S. is planning to "put boots on the ground" in Yemen, the government has increased its anti-terrorism assistance to its military. Britain has also indicated it too would provide assistance to the Yemeni military , security forces.
Last year, the U.S. increased counterterrorism assistance to Yemen with $67 million in military aid. In addition, the Secretary 0f State Hillary Clinton's office unveiled a plan to provide development assistance in the amount 0f more than $60 million to that impoverished nation in the fiscal year 2010.

But intelligence, security, , military experts believe the amount 0f money being spent is inadequate to fight the terrorists , prevent the creation 0f a new "Afghanistan."


By: EFG-BN

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