Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread SEVENTEEN

World Net Daily ^ | 8-10-04 | Paul Sperry

[JellyJam]

Recent terror-related explosions in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — A list of terror-related explosions in Russia since December 2002:

2004:

• May 9: A bomb rips through a stadium in the Chechen capital, Grozny, during a Victory Day ceremony, killing provincial President Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin’s point man for efforts to control separatist violence in the war-wracked region. As many as 24 people are killed. A Chechen warlord claimed responsibility.
• Feb. 6: Explosion rips through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour, killing 41 people. Authorities suspect a terrorist attack.

  2003:

• Dec. 9: Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow’s National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.
• Dec. 5: Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections.
• Sept. 16: Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.
• Aug. 1: Suicide bomber rams truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.
• July 10: Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow’s main street.
• July 5: Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.
• June 5: Female suicide attacker detonates bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16 people.
• May 14: Woman blows up explosives strapped to her waist in crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in an apparent attempt on the life of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed chief administrator, Akhmad Kadyrov, now the region’s president.
• May 12: Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
• April 3: Passenger bus hits remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.

  2002:

• Dec. 27: Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys headquarters of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.

[JellyJam]

new AP version:

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian airliner crashed south of Moscow, and controllers lost contact with a second passenger jet at about the same time after both took off from Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday. There was no word on survivors.

Witnesses reported seeing an explosion before the plane crashed about 125 miles south of Moscow, and authorities were not ruling out terrorism, the agency said.

The Interfax news agency said emergency workers spotted a fire about 600 miles south of Moscow in the region where the second plane went missing.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Federal Security Service to investigate, Russian news agencies reported. The service is the successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

A Tu-134 airliner that apparently had 42 people aboard crashed in the Tula region, 125 miles south of Moscow, at about 10:56 p.m. Tuesday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry.

Rescuers found the jet’s tail near the village of Buchalki, Interfax reported.

A Tu-154 with 46 people aboard lost contact with flight officials at about the same time near Rostov-on-Don, about 600 miles south of Moscow, ITAR-Tass quoted Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina as saying. The jet belonged to the Russian airline Sibir, which said the plane disappeared from radar screens at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, Interfax reported. There were 38 passengers and a crew of eight aboard.

The Interfax news agency later said emergency workers were headed to the region to see if the fire was from a crash.

Earlier, ITAR-Tass reported that emergency officials said the second plane crashed.

Quoting an unnamed air traffic official in Moscow, where both planes originated, ITAR-Tass said authorities were not ruling out terrorism. The agency also reported that witnesses said they saw an explosion before the Tula region crash.

The plane that crashed near Tula was headed to the southern city of Volgograd, while the plane that disappeared was flying to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin is vacationing, ITAR-Tass reported.

When Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov was told of the initial report of two near simultaneous crashes, he said, “Now we have to see if there’s terrorism.”

In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said, “We are obviously concerned by the news. We’re following developments closely and trying to determine the facts.”

The U.S. Homeland Security Department was monitoring the situation but was not implementing any additional security measures in the United States, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

The crash comes only days before Sunday’s presidential election in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a bombing in May.

[ExSoldier]

Putin has ordered an investigation.

Putin has ordered an investigation by an agency that pre-dates the KGB and gets involved only when there are suspicious circumstances and I'd be safe in saying this is the case here.

[JellyJam]

Flight details on the Tu-154:

The Tupolev’s Tu-154 remains the standard medium range airliner on domestic flights in Russia and other former Soviet states and to a lesser extent in eastern Europe and Iran.

The Tu-154 first flew on October 4, 1968. The first production example was delivered to Aeroflot in early 1971, although regular commercial service did not begin until February 1972.

About 900 Tu-154s of all models have been built.

Length: 157 feet, 2 inches

Height: 37 feet, 5 inches

Wingspan: 123 feet, 3 inches

Propulsion: 3 jet engines

Maximum Speed: TU-154, approx. 605 mph; TU-154M, approx.590 mph.

Range: TU-154, approximately 1,870 nautical miles; TU-154M, 2100 nautical miles.

Maximum Takeoff Weight: TU-154, 198,415 pounds; TU-154M, 220,460 pounds.

Crew: TU-154 - Flight crew of 3 or 4

Seating: TU-154, 158 to 164 at six abreast; TU-154M, 180 at six abreast.

First Deployed: TU-154, October 4, 1968; regular commercial service began in February 1972; TU-154M, 1982.

Production: Approximately 900 Tu-154s of all models have been built, including approximately 325 Tu-154Ms. About 580 were in service in late 1998.

Flight details on the Tu-134:

The Tupolev Tu-134 was the standard short haul jet airliner in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

Production began in 1964 although it was not until September 1967 that Aeroflot launched full commercial services.

The Tu-134 seats up to 76 in a single class. The revised Tu-134B1 which has a revised interior to seat up to 90 passengers without a galley, or kitchen, and the Tu-134B3 which can seat 96 with full kitchen.

Length: 112 feet, 8 inches

Height: 29 feet, 7 inches

Wingspan: 95 feet, 2 inches

Propulsion: 2 turbofans

Maximum Speed: Approx. 559 mph.

Ceiling: 39,730 feet

Range: 1295 - 1890 nautical miles.

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 98,105 pounds.

Crew: Three (two pilots, one navigator)

Seating: 72 - 96 passengers

First Deployed: 1964; full commercial service launched in September 1967.

Production: Approximately 700; About 365 were in service in late 1998.

Source: Airlines.net

[BurbankKarl]

that is like saying that John Kerry is the most decorated war veteran in the history of this country, earning 6 medals in three months...

oh wait, people are saying that.

[Velveeta]

Time to buckle up.

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

E-PRISM.ORG - Special Dispatch No. 4-2 (pdf): "HAMAS' SOLIDARITY WITH MUQTADA AL-SADR: Does the Movement fall under the Control of Hizballah and Iran?" by Reuven Paz (August 23, 2004)
http://www.e-prism.org/images/PRISM_Special_dispatch_no_4-2.pdf
http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/statements/2004/12_8_04.htm
http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/statements/2004/19_8_04.htm
http://www.e-prism.org/images/PRISM_Special_dispatch_no_3-2.pdf
http://www.tawhed.ws/r?i=2790

[Right_Handed_Writer]

For what it's worth, here's a webcam from Rostov-na-Donu Russia. All seems quiet at 4:15 A.M. It updates every few seconds. Watching for an emergency vehicle, possibly...

http://www.camcentral.com/camviewer.asp?script=location&item=Russia&page=1&id=5804

[JellyJam]

AP will update: security tightened at airports across Russia.

[JellyJam]

A Webcam for Rostov-na-Donu Russia? Of all places.

[texasbluebell]

Cindy and all, please take a look at this post over on the airplane crash thread. Smogger has found something very interesting on alt.Russia:

link

(Blackforce...Black winds???)

[Velveeta]

That is just so cool! Webcams and fax machines...I'm always in awe.

[callmejoe]

Interesting that most of UBL and Zawahiri's AQ colleagues in the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA) in Pakistan where they are probably hiding (besides fellow Arabs) are Chechens and Uzbeks.

It might be related to the general Mideast travel warning that was updated yesterday.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/search/iy/news_blended/uzbekistan/1/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040824/wl_nm/uzbekistan_usa_dc_1

(snip)

"The United States Government has received information that terrorists may be planning to launch new attacks in Uzbekistan in the period surrounding the Uzbek Independence Day celebrations in early September 2004," the State Department said in a warning issued to U.S. citizens on Tuesday. "The embassy urges Americans in Uzbekistan to exercise extreme caution, including avoiding large crowds, celebrations, and public places where Westerners ... congregate," it added.

[Velveeta]

Interesting that most of UBL and Zawahiri's AQ colleagues in the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA) in Pakistan where they are probably hiding (besides fellow Arabs) are Chechens and Uzbeks.

Aren't many of them Yemeni as well? I thought I read that....somewhere.

[Cindy]

I will.

[nwctwx]

Thread Eighteen will begin later tonight. If you are still not sure if you are on the notification ping list and would like to be, let me know.

[nwctwx]

I read it, quite creepy. I don't have the oldier, similar ones handy, don't even remember when they came out. I know they must be on one of the past TM threads, somewhere.

[nwctwx]

naturally there's at least one guy there who is ridiculing people who think it's terrorism...

Oh, that guy... ;-)

[freeperfromnj]

Recent terror-related explosions in Russia

The Associated Press
8/24/04 7:37 PM

MOSCOW (AP) -- A list of terror-related explosions in Russia since December 2002:

2004:

-- May 9: A bomb rips through a stadium in the Chechen capital, Grozny, during a Victory Day ceremony, killing provincial President Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin's point man for efforts to control separatist violence in the war-wracked region. As many as 24 people are killed. A Chechen warlord claimed responsibility.

-- Feb. 6: Explosion rips through a subway car in the Moscow metro during rush hour, killing 41 people. Authorities suspect a terrorist attack.

2003:

--Dec. 9: Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.

-- Dec. 5: Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections.

-- Sept. 16: Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.

-- Aug. 1: Suicide bomber rams truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.

-- July 10: Russian security agent dies in Moscow while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow's main street.

-- July 5: Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.

-- June 5: Female suicide attacker detonates bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16 people.

-- May 14: Woman blows up explosives strapped to her waist in crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in an apparent attempt on the life of Chechnya's Moscow-backed chief administrator, Akhmad Kadyrov, now the region's president.

-- May 12: Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.

-- April 3: Passenger bus hits remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.

2002:

-- Dec. 27: Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.

[LikeLight]

Thanks nwctwx. By that time TM will be the only place left to talk about this simultaneous jet takedown. Our press is so utterly self-focused that this stunning turn of events is already fading out of the news cycle. I swear, if something as big as 9/11 would have happened elsewhere in the world, our lame press would have forgotten all about it within days.