Russia is on edge today amid fears of a tide of suicide bombers as two blasts killed at least 11 people in Kizlyar just two days after twin bombs hit Moscow.
Investigators said a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform set off the second of the blasts in Dagestan. This time both bombers were male.
Two days ago two female bombers with links to insurgents in the turbulent North Caucasus killed 39 people in attacks on the Moscow metro.
Today, police said the first suicide bomber blew himself up in a car parked near a school in the centre of Kizlyar as a traffic police patrol was driving by.
Tide of bombers: The scene of a dual suicide attack in Dagestan today – just outside a school
Two officers died in that initial blast.
As police and onlookers rushed to the scene a second bomber disguised as a policeman blew himself up, killing nine more people.
The provincial police spokesman said Kizlyar police chief Vitaly Vedernikov was among the dead. At least six other police officers, an investigator and a civilian were killed, Russian news agencies cited police as saying.
Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province adjacent to war-scarred Chechnya along Russia’s southern border, is plagued by frequent attacks targeting police and government officials.
Drawing police to the scene of an initial blast and then setting off another bomb is a common tactic used by militants in the North Caucasus.
Attacks linked to the insurgency that persists nearly a decade after the second post-Soviet separatist war in Chechnya had been limited mostly to the North Caucasus in recent years before the Monday bombings on Moscow’s metro.
Agency reports said there were no children in the school in Kizlyar at the time of the explosions.
The deadliest attack in the Russian capital in six years fuelled fears of a broader offensive by rebels based in the North Caucasus and underscored the Kremlin’s failure to keep militants in check.
One of the women who Russian security services claim killed themselves as they detonated bombs murdering 39 people and injuring 72
A grainy image (left) shows the woman police claim was the second bomber. Police have also released CCTV of a man believed to be an associate of the bombers (right)
Yesterday he first images of the ‘Black Widow’ suicide bombers were released as Vladimir Putin vowed to ‘scrape out the attackers from the bottom of the sewers’.
As Russia held a day of mourning for the 39 people killed in the underground terror attack, the country’s prime minister vowed vengeance on those who had helped mount the attack.
The police and security services now believe there are in a desperate race against time to find the gang with fears they could be plotting another outrage.
The bombings today appear to be fulfilling those fears.
It was suggested today that some 21 more ‘widows’ are at large following reports that the women were part of a 30-strong band of suicide bombers trained at a Muslim school in Turkey. Nine have already perished in earlier attacks, Russian media said.
The dead women in Monday’s attack are both believed to be aged between 18 and 25 and to have carried the explosives – packed with nails and metal fragments to maximise death and destruction – in shahid belts or handbags.
According to police who have viewed CCTV which has not yet been released, one was said to be mentally retarded.
A source close to the investigators said that the women suicide bombers travelled to Moscow early on Monday by coach from a unnamed Caucasus town, prompting the belief that the attack was by militants from volatile Chechnya.
Grief: Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin visits a survivor of yesterday’s terrorist attack in hospital
Grim: Rescue workers try to save the life of one of those injured in the blast at Park Kultury metro station
The women were accompanied by a tall man with Caucasus appearance, dressed in dark blue coat with white marks. He had five days growth of beard. Both women were identified by the driver of the coach.
‘One was dressed in black trousers, another in black skirt, black tights and spangled black shoes,’ said the Kommersant newspaper. Their appearance indicated they were from the Caucasus region.
The newspaper said the women had been taught by an Islamic militant who had himself being killed last month in an operation by the FSB, which replaced the KGB. ‘Around 30 of them were taught in Madrasah (Muslim school) in Turkey and then came back to perform their tasks,’ said Kommersant.
‘Nine of them have already blown themselves up, the others are being checked now.’
Mr Putin, the former President, returned early from a trip to Siberia to take charge of the Russian government’s response to the attacks.
Dressed in a white doctor’s coat, he went straight to visit the wounded at Botkin Hospital in Moscow. He said the perpetrators would be hunted down.
‘We know that they are lying low,’ he said.
‘But it is now a matter of honour for the security forces to scrape them out from the bottom of the sewers and bring them out into the light of day. This will be done.’
Observers interpreted his tough remarks that he may now use the new threat to Russia as a launch pad to return to presidency in two years time.
Rush hour hell: Shocked survivors wait for treatment after the bombings ripped through Moscow metro
Memorial: A Russian man lights a candle in memory of the victims of the bombing attacks
The outburst was similar to his famous 1999 vow to strike at rebels even in the ‘outhouse’ which heralded the adoption of tougher tactics by the authorities against Chechen militants and led to his stunning elections victories.
However, amid the tough talk there were claims that the authorities had prior intelligence of a threat to the metro on Monday – and were actively stopping and searching women of the appearance of the attackers though no warning to the public was issued. Officials have not commented on the serious charge.
The Kommersant newspaper said: ‘Russian law enforcement agencies knew ahead of time about the possible explosions on Moscow transport but still two women suicide bombers dressed in all black easily got inside the metro and even to the station next to FSB building.’
The newspaper claimed that before the attacks women suspected of being from the Caucasus were being stopped and searched and questioned.
One woman who was stopped and questioned around 15 minutes before the first bomb heard officers talking on their radio phones to colleagues at other stations.
‘She heard that many women had been stopped but nothing was found so far. At the moment of the first explosion she was still at the police room in the metro when she saw a police boss rushed in with an angry face.
‘He shouted to his officers – “how did you dare to miss them? You had all the information”?’
The newspaper said Moscow police were refusing to confirm the claim but ‘several sources told us that at least three secret messages were received.’
Yesterday, a leading Kremlin minister added to the swirl of confusion by hinting that al-Qa’eda may have been behind the attacks.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov hinted at al-Qaeda’s hand behind the attack. ‘We all know very well that clandestine terrorists are very active on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan,’ he said.
‘We know that several attacks have been prepared there, to be carried out not only in Afghanistan, but also in other countries. Sometimes, these journeys go as far as the Caucasus.’
Some 33 people have now been identified of the 39 dead. Among them were best friends Dasha Antonova and Valya Egiazaryan, both 17, died in the blast on their way to college. “They have been friends since their first year at school,” said Valya’s mother.
“We came here at night, and Valya is now in morgue Number 6 now. We can come to pick up her body on Thursday. We want to bury it as far away from Moscow as possible.”
Black Widows are close female relatives and clan members of Chechen warriors slain by the Russians in the two bloody wars to have blighted the Caucasus region since the collapse of Communism two decades ago.
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