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| Caucasus |
| Details on the Chechen Bombing |
| 2003-05-15 |
| Edited for topic: A suicide bombing in Chechnya, the second there this week, killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens more during a religious festival. The attack appeared to be an attempt to assassinate the republic's pro-Russian leader, officials in Chechnya said. The attack occurred about 3 p.m. in Iliskhan-Yurt, a village about 20 miles east of the Chechen capital, Grozny, the officials said. Two women tried to approach the head of the regional administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was among thousands of Chechens — who are predominantly Muslim — attending a religious festival commemorating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the officials said. One of the women pleaded that she wanted to speak to Mr. Kadyrov, one official said, because three of her sons had disappeared, a common occurrence in Chechnya. She was stopped, and a large explosion followed. A second bomb, evidently carried by the other woman, did not explode; the authorities found explosives and detonated them afterward. Killed by the first blast before she could push the button. Images on Russian television showed that the force of the blast severed bodies and strewed bits of flesh and bone across a lush green field beside a religious shrine on the village's outskirts. Mr. Kadyrov was not wounded, but four of his bodyguards were among those killed, the chief Russian prosecutor in Chechnya, Vladimir P. Kravchenko, said tonight. Bodyguards did their job, died to protect the target. |
| Posted by:Steve |