Free Republic

Police and FSB agents are investigating the role two Chechen women who boarded the planes that crashed in south Russia Tuesday may have had in possible explosions. Experts, meanwhile, cite evidence of small blasts at the rear of the planes. According to the Kommersant daily, the FSB has contacted regional Chechen police about S. Dzhebirkhanova, who boarded the Tu-154 and sat in the tail end, and Amanta Nagayeva, who boarded the Tu-134. Both women had apparently registered for the flights without giving their passport information, Kommersant reports, citing sources in the Sibir and VolgoAviaExpress airlines. No family members have contacted...

Wreckage of a Tu-154 airliner is seen at a crash site near Gluboky in the Rostov region some 600 miles south of Moscow, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2004.(Sergei Venyavsky/AP Photo) — Suicide bombers, in precision attacks, destroyed two Russian domestic airlines, which killed 90 people Tuesday, U.S. sources told ABC News. Traces of explosives found in one of two downed Tupolev planes match explosives used in the 1999 bombing attacks of Moscow apartments by Chechen separatists, according to two U.S. government sources. These sources told ABC News that according to reports received by U.S. investigators in Moscow, suicide attacks are...

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.

Heard on Coast to Coast w George Noury. Al-Q says they had team of 5 on each airplane

Russian officials say traces of explosives have been found in wreckage of one of two crashed jetliners. Details soon.

Latest News | Updated Aug 27, 2.30 pm (Singapore time) http://straitstimes.com/latest/story/0,4390,269529,00.html? Militant group claims downing of Russian planes CAIRO - A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a website known for militant Muslim comment on Friday. The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed 'The Islambouli Brigades'. A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified. Advertisement Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday's plane...

To: BREAKINGNEWS Subscribers Subject: FNC Alert MUSLIM WEB SITE POSTS CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR DOWNING OF RUSSIAN JETS

Traces of explosive have been found amid the wreckage of one of two Tupolev airliners that crashed on Tuesday, say Russian officials. The FSB security service said at least one of the almost simultaneous crashes was a "terrorist act". Details of the discovery came after an Islamic group claimed responsibility for the crashes in a website statement. Investigators are still working to decode the flight data recorders from the crashes, which left 89 people dead. Russian aviation officials have confirmed that one of the planes, a Sibir Airlines Tu-154, sent out a hijack alert just before it crashed, Russian media...

CAIRO, Egypt -- A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment Friday. The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed "the Islambouli Brigades." A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified. Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday's plane crashes, which killed 89 people. "We in the Islambouli Brigades announce that our holy warriors managed to hijack...

MOSCOW (AP) - A top Russian official acknowledged Thursday what many citizens already suspected - that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that "Russia now has a Sept. 11." A day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory "all the same remains terrorism." Yakovlev said the planes' flight recorders provide no clues to the disaster. He said both boxes had shut off abruptly without any indication of trouble, a sign U.S....

Commentary > The Monitor's View from the August 26, 2004 edition Russia's Crashes and Chechnya Two Russian passenger jets crashed within minutes of each other Tuesday night, one of them sending out a hijack or seizure signal just before crashing. This points strongly to terrorism - and potentially to separatist rebels in Russia's independence-minded province of Chechnya.

Eyewitnesses of plane crashes find dead bodies near their homes - 08/26/2004 12:52 "I was shocked to see three passenger seats in my yard. Two people were sitting on them" A lot of recent publications in the Russian press have been devoted to the air crash, which took place in the country on Tuesday night. Mass media outlets published eyewitnesses' stories and the narrations of the rescuers, who worked on the crash sites. "Everything is mashed over there," police officer Yefremov said. "The hull of the plane is 500 meters far from its tail. There are no more fragments around....

Kremlin crash cover-up claim By Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 27/08/2004) The Kremlin faced growing accusations of a cover-up yesterday as Russian officials announced that the black boxes of two crashed passenger jets had failed to yield evidence of a terrorist attack. The two aircraft blew up and crashed within minutes of each other after take-off on Tuesday night, killing all 89 crew and passengers. An emergency crew inspects the crashed Tu-154 Russia's free media speculated that the security services were deliberately playing down suspicions of terrorism in an attempt to spare the Kremlin the embarrassment of admitting to serious...

MOSCOW - A top Russian official acknowledged on Thursday what many citizens already suspected — that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that “Russia now has a Sept. 11.” Just a day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory “all the same remains terrorism.” He said the planes’ flight recorders had not provided any clues to the disaster. Additionally, Transport Minister Igor Levitin confirmed Sibir airlines’ report that its crew activated...

MOSCOW - A top Russian official acknowledged on Thursday what many citizens already suspected — that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that "Russia now has a Sept. 11." Just a day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory "all the same remains terrorism." He said the planes' flight recorders had not provided any clues to the disaster. Additionally, Transport Minister Igor Levitin confirmed Sibir airlines' report that its crew activated...

Flight recorders from the wreckage of two planes that crashed almost simultaneously in Russia have not revealed reliable information on the causes of the double disaster, a top Russian official said. Vladimir Yakovlev, the Russian president’s envoy for the southern region, where one of the planes crashed, said that the main theory about the catastrophe “remains terrorism,” the ITAR-Tass news agency said. Officials have said that several possibilities were being investigated as the cause of the crashes that killed 89 people late on Tuesday, including inferior fuel and human error and that they believed the planes’ “black box” recorders would...

Russia Mourns Dead in Air Crash, Questions CauseBy Nathan Pettingill UZLOVAYA, Russia (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday observed a day of mourning for at least 89 people who died in a mysterious double air disaster, which some fear could have been a terrorist attack ahead of a key election in rebel Chechnya. Flags flew half-mast and comedies were pulled from theaters and television schedules as relatives of those who died in the Tuesday's still unexplained plane disasters arrived at the crash sites to help identify the dead. Russian media scorned official statements that the two plane crashes within minutes of...

MOSCOW (AP) - A top Russian official on Thursday said that flight recorders failed to provide reliable information about what brought down two jetliners nearly simultaneously, killing 89 people, but that terrorism remained a leading possibility. Vladimir Yakovlev, the Russian president's envoy for the southern region, where one of the planes crashed, said despite the lack of information, the main theory about the catastrophe "all the same remains terrorism," the ITAR-Tass news agency said. The apparent failure of the recorders to provide significant information could increase what appears to be rising suspicion among Russians that the crashes were terrorist acts....

Search for Russia crash cluesFrom CNN Correspondent Ryan Chilcote Wednesday, August 25, 2004 Posted: 5:09 PM EDT (2109 GMT) MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian emergency workers are continuing to sift through twisted metal for clues about why two airliners crashed within minutes of each other, killing all 89 people aboard. Officials said one of the jets had sent a hijack distress signal after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport on Tuesday night, raising fears terrorists had struck. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service said Wednesday that while a preliminary investigation of the crash sites had not revealed evidence of...

Date: August 26 2004 The pilot of one of two Russian planes that crashed almost simultaneously had sent a hijack alert, raising fears of a terrorist attack. All 89 people on board the two passenger planes died.