By DMITRY LOVETSKY, Associated Press Writer
ARKHANGELSK, Russia - An apparent natural gas explosion sheared off part of a nine-story apartment building in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk as residents slep early Tuesday, killing at least 23 people, including three children. About 20 were missing.
Police blamed two homeless men who allegedly removed bronze fittings from gas pipes to sell them.
Igor Avtushko, spokesman for the regional Interior Ministry, said authorities were searching for two men seen by neighbors. The men allegedly were carrying metal pipes and tools. He said authorities found the seals missing in two neighboring buildings, but crews fixed the gas leaks.
Earlier authorities feared sabotage or terrorism because of heightened tension in Russia after a series of attacks blamed on Chechen rebels. In fall 1999, explosions blamed on rebels ripped through apartment buildings in Moscow and two other cities, killing some 300 people.
But a gas leak was seen as the most likely cause, emergency workers said, after firefighters reported a strong odor of gas and gas employees said leaks had been reported in other buildings overnight in Arkhangelsk, about 600 miles north of Moscow. No explosive devices were found, said Natalya Ozhigina, a spokeswoman for the regional Federal Security Service agency, told ITAR-Tass.
Tuesday's blast hit at 3:25 a.m. local time, when most of the 80 residents registered in the building in Arkhangelsk would have been in bed, Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina said.
Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Yuri Vorobyov told Russia's NTV television at the scene that 22 bodies had been recovered by afternoon and that rescuers found another victim but had not yet been able to recover the body. He said 24 people had been pulled from the debris alive.
"We were awakened by a terrible noise," Igor, 40, who lives in the adjoining section of the apartment building, told Arkhangelsk's Pravda Severa newspaper. "The wall of our bedroom came crashing down on the bed. ... We were in a state of shock."
The explosion destroyed a whole section of the building, leaving huge chunks of debris.
Russian TV showed footage of rescue crews clambering over the wreckage, using power saws to cut through piles of building materials as cranes lifted off the biggest beams.
The Emergency Situations Ministry dispatched an Il-76 cargo plane from Moscow with more rescue workers and equipment.
"The base version is a natural gas explosion," Vladimir Lobanov, a regional official, told state television. He said gas officials were checking all buildings in the area. Citing an unidentified gas worker, ITAR-Tass reported that overnight repair teams had to fix gas leaks in two neighboring buildings after discovering "plugs unscrewed from the gas pipes" — hinting at possible sabotage.
Lobanov added, however, that the investigation was continuing.
There were 36 apartments in the affected section of the building, which Russian state television reported housed many military veterans and employees of the local Interior Ministry.
Neglect of safety precautions has led to frequent gas explosions in Russian apartment buildings and public facilities.
By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two Germans working on a water-supply project south of Baghdad were shot to death Tuesday, and their deaths brought to six the number of foreigners killed in drive-by shootings in the past 24 hours.
The top U.S. military commander said the attacks were meant to divide the 36-member coalition occupying Iraq.
The two Germans were killed in an attack Tuesday on the outskirts of the town of Mussayab, 45 miles south of Baghdad, said Dr. Jamal Kadhim, head of the emergency department at Mussayab General Hospital. Their Iraqi driver and a police officer were also killed, and two police were wounded.
Kadhim said he saw the passports of the two Germans, though a German embassy official in Baghdad said one was German and one was Dutch. Police chief Col. A'ayed Omran said they were working on a project at Al-Razzaza, a lake near the southern city of Karbala, and that they were carrying weapons because they had been attacked in the same area before.
It came after four U.S. missionaries were slain in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Mosul, where they were working on a water-purification project. One of them died on the way to the hospital, and a fifth survived.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez spoke before the attack on the Europeans, but said such attacks were meant to divide the coalition.
"Clearly there has been a shift in the insurgency and the way the extremists are conducting operations," Sanchez said during a military ceremony in the northern city of Tikrit. "It is very clear they are going after these targets that might create some splits within the coalition."
Sanchez cast doubt on whether Spain would withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq, as the new prime minister has said he will do if the United Nations (news - web sites) doesn't take over peacekeeping by June 30. But he said that if they do, the loss would not be "a significant military problem" for the U.S.-led coalition.
"I think that it is still evolving," Sanchez said. "We will have to wait a few days."
The Elliotts were scouting the best location for a water purification project, said Michelle DeVoss of the First Baptist Church in Cary, N.C.
The Virginia-based Southern Baptist International Mission Board identified the four dead as Larry T. Elliott, 60, and Jean Dover Elliott, 58, of Cary, N.C.; Karen Denise Watson, 38, of Bakersfield, Calif.; and David E. McDonnall, 28, of Rowlett, Texas.
McDonnall died Tuesday morning on a helicopter that was transporting him to a military hospital in Baghdad after four U.S. military surgeons worked for six hours to save his life, the mission board said.
McDonnall's wife, Carrie Taylor McDonnall, 26, of Rowlett, Texas, remains in critical condition, the mission board said. She is the only survivor of the attack.
Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, a spokesman for American forces in Mosul, said the five Americans were traveling in one car on the eastern side of the city when they were attacked.
An off-duty Iraqi policeman found the car shortly after the late Monday afternoon shooting. Three of the victims were dead. The officer took the two wounded to an Iraqi hospital. U.S. Army air medical evacuation helicopters later transported them to a combat support hospital in Mosul.
"They knew going into Iraq, they couldn't really share their Christian faith unless somebody asked them," said Larry Kingsley, a church deacon. "They were there in a humanitarian situation. They were people who just had a great heart for helping people out."
The five knew they were traveling to a dangerous part of the world, but decided to press on, said Manda Roten, spokeswoman for the missionary board.
"Their personal love for God and their desire to obey him would outweigh any personal risks for them," Roten said.
Iraqi police and the FBI were involved in the investigation.
Sanchez said the coalition could continue without Spain's contribution if it decides to withdraw.
"It is something we will have to adjust to," the general said. "But it is clearly manageable. It is not a significant military problem for the coalition to be able to cover that area."
The new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, vowed to pull out Spanish forces during the election campaign. The United States plans to turn over sovereignty to Iraq by June 30 but has no plans to cede control of the military operation to the United Nations.
Zapatero's Socialist party was propelled to an upset victory in elections Sunday by anger over terrorist attacks in Madrid last week that killed 200 people. Voters accused the outgoing prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, of making Spain a target by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
In Mosul on Tuesday, an Iraqi woman whose sister works for the U.S. military was slain in a drive-by shooting that also wounded the woman's brother and father, police in the city said. Police said the slain woman, a pharmacist, may have been confused with her sister who works as a translator on a U.S. Army base in Mosul.