Author: Agencies/Kaspiisk, Russia
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 10, 2002
A remote-controlled mine blast tore
through the main street of a Southern Russian town near breakaway Chechnya
on Thursday, killing at least 26 people and injuring about 100, during
celebrations marking the allied victory over the Nazis, the officials said.
The victims included children, veterans
and musicians in a military band marching down Lenin street in the Caspian
Sea port of Kaspiisk toward the town cemetery to lay wreaths at the tomb
of the unknown soldier. A mangled drum heaped with flowers lay next to
the abandoned horns and an empty boot, in footage shown on NTV television.
Streams of blood trickled down the pocked, tree-lined road. Thursday's
blast came while Russia was in a buoyant, patriotic mood thanks to parades
and celebrations nationwide to mark the Victory Day, one of Russia's most
crucial holidays.
Thousands of troops marched across
Red Square past Russian President Vladimir Putin and aging World War II
veterans, while triumphant music and films filled the airwaves and streets
were blanketed in building-size banners. Putin, right after giving a speech
during the Red Square parade, convened an emergency meeting in the Kremlin
of his top law enforcement and defense officials about the blast and appointed
the head of the federal security service to oversee the investigation.
"I think there are few people who
doubt this was a terrorist act," he said. At a reception later, he said,
"today is the most dear holiday for our people. Today's act was committed
by scum for whom nothing is sacred. We have the right to view (the perpetrators)
as we view Nazis, as those whose purpose is to sow death and kill. Bu however
difficult the tasks before us today, they will be solved." He asked those
gathered to hold a moment of silence for the blast victims. The head of
the Dagestan region Magomedali Magomedov told reporters that at least 20
people were killed and 100 injured.
The center of Kaspiisk was cordoned
off and swarming with security agents, and rescue workers. Sappers were
searching for other mines in the area. The Itar-Tass news agency reported
that the city's hospital was overflowing with injured and medics were appealing
for blood donations.
In Chechnya, meanwhile, rebels fired
on a stadium in the capital Grozny on Thursday, where Russian forces and
Chechen civilians were holding the Victory Day celebrations, wounding one
police officer, Russian news reports said.
The federal troops in Chechnya
have been on high alert for holiday-related attacks. Dagestan sees frequent
small-scale bombings and other unrest, often spillover violence from the
war in Chechnya. Kaspiisk suffered a huge bombing in November in 1996 that
killed 68 people, when it tore through an apartment building housing Russian
border guards. Officials never determined who was responsible for the blast,
but many blamed it on Chechen rebels. Kaspiisk, north of the border with
Azerbaijan, is home to a large number of Russian border guards.
