Suicide bomber kills 14 in Russia's south

[Lanie]

MOSCOW (AP) — At least 14 people were killed and scores were wounded Sunday as a female suicide bomber struck at a railway station in southern Russia, officials said, heightening concern about terrorism ahead of February's Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack in Volgograd, but it came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games.

Volgograd, 900 kilometers (550 miles) south of Moscow, lies about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of Sochi, a Black Sea resort flanked by the North Caucasus Mountains.

http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-14-russia-39-south-114359101.html

[Lanie]

I resent these Chechen rebels.

I actually feel sorry for the Chechens because the Russians have been wanting their land since the 1800s and REFUSED to leave them alone until they could steal the land they wanted.

I also want to see the Russian government brought to their knees after all they've done to homosexuals, Pussy Riot, and because they're not acting like human beings in general.

Unfortunately, these rebels create a situation where we have to take up for Russia's evil government and I resent them for that.

[Gingersnap]

Two Blasts Kill at Least 30 Before Russia Hosts Olympics
By Stephen Bierman and Henry Meyer Dec 30, 2013 7:08 AM MT 247 Comments Email Print

Suicide bombers at a train station and on a trolleybus killed more than 30 people within 24 hours in the southern city of Volgograd, raising the security threat less than six weeks before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics.

At least 14 people died and 27 others were injured when a man detonated a bomb in the trolleybus during rush hour after 8:10 a.m. local time, the Health Ministry said on its website. The blast yesterday near a metal detector at the entrance to the city’s train station killed 17 people and injured 45 others, according to the ministry.

The twin bombings come as Russia prepares to stage the Olympics in February in Sochi, a Black Sea resort close to the violence-wracked North Caucasus region. Volgograd, which suffered another suicide bombing on a bus in October, is about 700 kilometers (435 miles) northeast of Sochi.

“If another attack happens closer to Sochi, it will be a catastrophe for the Olympics,” Alexei Malashenko, an analyst on the North Caucasus at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said by phone. “Three bombings in the space of three months means that terrorist activity is becoming systematic.”

President Vladimir Putin’s government, which will seal off Sochi, a city of 345,000 people, had planned to beef up security starting on Jan. 7, a month before the games start, according to the state-run news service RIA Novosti.

The Investigative Committee is treating the bombings as terrorist attacks that may be linked. Today’s bomb had the explosive power of more than 4 kilograms (9 pounds) of TNT, according to a website statement. The twisted metal remains of the trolleybus were shown on footage broadcast on state television.

“This cynically planned blow on the eve of New Year’s celebrations is yet another attempt by the terrorists to open a domestic front, sowing panic and chaos,” the Foreign Ministry said today in a website statement. Militants are also trying to stoke tension among religious groups, the ministry said.

In October, a female suicide bomber killed six passengers on a bus in the city, once known as Stalingrad. Another woman died later in the hospital. That bomber arrived from the capital of the mainly Muslim region of Dagestan, disembarking from a bus that was en route to the Russian capital about an hour before she blew herself up, the committee said at the time.

Putin’s Response

Putin instructed Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service, known in Russian as the FSB, to fly to Volgograd, Interfax reported today, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The president yesterday ordered the government, the emergency and health ministries and the head of the Volgograd region to “take all necessary steps” to aid victims, according to a Kremlin statement.

Updates, etc.

Bloomberg

[phillygirl]

I resent these Chechen rebels.

I actually feel sorry for the Chechens because the Russians have been wanting their land since the 1800s and REFUSED to leave them alone until they could steal the land they wanted.

I also want to see the Russian government brought to their knees after all they've done to homosexuals, Pussy Riot, and because they're not acting like human beings in general.

Unfortunately, these rebels create a situation where we have to take up for Russia's evil government and I resent them for that.

The Russians have a lot to answer for. Pussy Riot isn't one of them.

[Gingersnap]

The Russians have a lot to answer for. Pussy Riot isn't one of them.

The Chechens have a lot to answer for and the deaths of 186 children and many more adults killed or wounded is one of them.

I don't know how to resolve this situation. I expect there isn't any resolution since Islam is incompatible with democracy, including Russian-style democracy (halting as this is).

[Lanie]

The Russians have a lot to answer for. Pussy Riot isn't one of them.

You don't think people should be entitled to freedom of speech?

[Lanie]

The Chechens have a lot to answer for and the deaths of 186 children and many more adults killed or wounded is one of them.

I don't know how to resolve this situation. I expect there isn't any resolution since Islam is incompatible with democracy, including Russian-style democracy (halting as this is).

I agree, but I really hate that they're turning the Russian government into victims.

[Adam]

You don't think people should be entitled to freedom of speech?

For what were the members of Pussy Riot who were arrested, charged, convicted, and jailed?

Hint: it was not "opposing Vladimir Putin."



I think Putin is a power-hungry shithead. The guy is ex-KGB and has never wanted to turn loose of his power over others. He has always lorded himself over other people. But that does not give others the right to do things like invade a church and throw a "guerrilla concert" there over the wishes of the caretakers of that church. You wouldn't want me kicking down the door of your house and hold some sort of impromptu concert in your living room or giving some speech on the evils of the social welfare state. But that is, in fact, exactly what Pussy Riot did. Now, you may want to call that "civil disobedience," and while I don't agree with that, that's fine, but part of civil disobedience is being willing to do the time for violating the law. If they didn't want to do the time, then they shouldn't have been going about pulling the stunts that they did.