Suicide bombing kills six in central Moscow ( 2003-12-10 09:04) (Agencies)
A suicide bomb attack killed at least six people
and wounded 13 others in the heart of Moscow on Tuesday, just two days after
Russian voters handed President Vladimir Putin an even tighter grip on
power.
"We can say with certainty that this was a terrorist act ... linked to the
elections to the State Duma (parliament)," said Sergei Tsoi, a spokesman for
Moscow's mayor.
It was the second suicide bombing in Russia in five days and the second
deadly bomb attack in the capital this year. The first one in July, which killed
15 people at an outdoor concert, was blamed on Chechen separatists.
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Tuesday's attack may have been the work of two women
suicide bombers. The deputy interior minister said police were investigating
whether there were three.
"There is an obvious Chechen connection," Itar-Tass news agency quoted
Luzhkov as saying. He said the two women had asked directions to the State Duma
lower house of parliament.
Security camera footage showed one of them wearing a belt of explosives,
Luzhkov told TVTs television.
Putin called for new action to halt "terrorists" who he said were trying to
undermine economic and democratic development.
"The actions of criminals, terrorists which we have to confront even today
are aimed against all that," he said.
Police spokesman Kirill Mazurin said four people were killed outright.
Another was reported to have died on the way to hospital. Moscow police said a
sixth died later.
Itar-Tass news agency said the bomb had been packed with nails and metal
pieces, making its effect more devastating when it went off just before 11 a.m.
It quoted security sources as saying one of the suicide bombers had been on a
police wanted list and was suspected of having undergone training at a guerrilla
training camp.
CLOUDS ELECTION
The attack cast another shadow over last Sunday's election for parliament's
lower house, which handed an overwhelming victory to Putin's allies but was
challenged by Western critics.
Last Friday, an apparent suicide attack on a commuter train killed at least
44 people near rebel Chechnya, scene of almost daily bloodshed between Russian
forces and separatist rebels.
The fourth such election since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 crushed
Putin's Communist and liberal opponents and prompted warnings of a return to
authoritarian rule.
The outcome makes Putin's re-election for a second term next March a near
certainty. The upper house is due to set March 14 as the date for the
presidential poll at a meeting Wednesday.
Despite speculation that the new Duma make-up could allow Putin to change the
constitution to let him bid for a third term in office, the president Tuesday
ruled out any amendments.
The election result is worrying global investors who, though hoping Putin can
push through more legal and economic reforms, fear it may mean more state
interference in the private sector.
Many analysts believe the arrest on tax fraud and corruption charges of the
former head of oil giant YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in October was inspired by
Kremlin hard-liners.
In the latest blow to YUKOS, tax police searched the Moscow headquarters of a
bank owned by Menatep, the main shareholder in the oil firm, a spokesman for
Menatep SPb bank said.
