Posted on 08/27/2004 8:58:02 AM PDT by dmellody
Moscow - One of two Russian airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously was brought down by a terrorist act, officials said Friday, after finding traces of explosives in the plane's wreckage. A Web site connected to Islamic militants claimed the action was connected to Russia's fight against Chechen separatists.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Absolutely, I've been wondering about that myself. if they make it BIG news, it reminds voters that the WAR on TERRor is not JUST about Iraq. That may be the frontline, but there is infiltrators, and the only person capable of handling this situation right now is ....George W. Bush.
After this event, watch who starts to join us in the war now, who knows, maybe we can have a true Alliance with Russia...
If Americans don't die, it doesn't matter.
Taken from: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=NW_1-T&oldflok=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040827/0506330815.htm&photoid=20040825MOSB121
CNN News: Ten Hijackers Were Terror Cell Connected To Bin Laden
DUBAI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - An Islamist group hijacked two Russian planes that crashed this week, killing at least 89 people, to avenge the killing of Muslims in Chechnya, according to an Internet claim of responsibility posted on Friday.
The Arabic-language statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, threatened more attacks.
"Our mujahideen in the Islambouli Brigades were able to hijack two Russian planes and they were successful despite the obstacles that faced them at the beginning. There were five (mujahideen) in each plane," the statement said.
Khaled Islambouli was the Egyptian army officer who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
Islambouli was a member of the Jihad group, part of which integrated into al-Qaeda in the 1990s under Ayman al-Zawahri, the top aide to Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The statement, posted on a Web site which usually carries Islamist militant statements, said the attacks were in response to Russia's killing of Muslims in Chechnya and other Muslim countries.
"Russia's slaughtering of Muslims is still continuing and will not stop except with a bloody war. Our mujahideen were able with God's help to deal a first strike which will be followed by other operations in a campaign aimed at helping our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim countries enduring Russia's atheism," the statement added.
Russian authorities who earlier said the dual crashes may have been a freak coincidence said on Friday that traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of one plane, suggesting sabotage, Itar-Tass news agency said.
Friday's claim did not refer to al-Qaeda but a previous claim by the group which called itself "The Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaeda" said in July it had tried to assassinate Pakistani prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz and warned of more bloody attacks against pro-U.S. officials.
Aziz, 55, escaped unhurt from a suicide bombing. Pakistani officials said al Qaeda-linked militants were the prime suspects.
The statement said it would soon publish the wills of the attackers of the Russian planes who "sacrificed themselves for the sake of God and to make Muslims victorious."
"We will not rest until we direct successive blows to the despotic and infidel regimes in the region."
There is some kind of election in Russia next week, IIRC.
[We need to be aware that 'events' might very well happen inside the US as the November election date comes closer.]
Dear Putin,
You're not immune.
Sincerely,
IOTN
And if americans die it still doesn't matter to them. Just sickening!
That doesn't make sense. If you're just going to blow up an airplane, it doesn't take five people and a hijacking. It takes one person with an IQ higher than a soggy sponge (hi, Richard Reid!).
If--IF--this claim is true, expect to start hearing rumblings about whether the Tu-154 that sent the hijack signal was actually shot down. The fact that the plane was scheduled to fly to Sochi, where President Putin was vacationing, may figure into that.
}:-)4
Hey Rooskies feel free to nuke them anytime you like....
imo
We can expect a very strong response (attack) from the Russians anytime now. I hope this will convince the Russians to stop being critical of our war on terror. Now they know what it's like. it is unfortunate that it came to this, but maybe now the Russians will join us in fighting these savages.
Un, Russians have been on the receiving end of jihadis since the early 80's. We're the latecomers. In fact, they were our boys for a long time.
Remember, we supported fanatical islamis to drive them out of Afghanistan.
That is a very good question. Even Fox, the only serious NEWS organization out there(as opposed to HYPE organizations), barely mentions this. Why report on the safety of the free world when Michael Jackson is in a court room.
France and Germany will be next. They do not percieve these scum as a threat because they opposed us in Iraq. They will soon be proven wrong.
We were the ones who were the prime halter on Russia's attempts to wipe out those jihadis. For example throughout the 90s we would tell the Russians not to do this and not to do that toward the Chechens. For example there was a huge drive to pressure the Russians not to use fighter-bombers against imbedded Chechen targets, hence requiring the sending of ground troops to Chechnya (when an aerial bombardment would have been more expedient, and much safer). Also I can recall that when the Russians started to use some defragmentation rocket systems (that proved very effective against Chechen fighters), or when HE explosives with ball-bearings were used, that there was a huge cry throughout international circles that Russia was 'going too far.' Actually the same argument used against Russia was the one directed towards Israel. As in some groups apparently think it is inherently unfair when Israel uses its Merkava MBTs (main battle tanks) against Palestinian terrorists, or Apache gunships against terrorist vehicles, or F-16s against terrorist hideouts (those people are dumb ....is Israel supposed to not use its capabilities so as to be 'fair').
The Russians have basically been in the war against terror for almost a decade now. The only thing they did not do is support us in the war on Iraq, and I guess to them it really did not gell (for them) as a war against terror (and anyways they had economic interests in the region). However, unlike France and Germany (especially France), at least all the Russians did was nto support us (unlike the French who did everything in their power to sink our ship when it came to going into Iraq).
I think the Bush strategy is, per Condi Rice: 'Forgive Russia, ignore Germany, punish France.'
That is exactly what I meant. The Russians didn't feel that Saddam was a bad guy. They opposed the war from the beginning.
That is exactly what I meant. The Russians didn't feel that Saddam was a bad guy. They opposed the war from the beginning.
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