Death toll climbs to 56
in the Znamenskoye explosion
Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus - The number of casualties in Monday’s truck
bombing in the town of Znamenskoye rose to 56 today. A total of 284 people were
injured, 57 quite seriously. Workers from the Emergencies Ministry of the Chechen
Republic and their colleagues from neighboring republics worked through the night
to find survivors. But according to available information, no one is any longer
buried under the ruins.
An Interior Ministry source said a truck laden with explosives arrived from the
village of Ishchorskaya in the Naurski district. Fragments containing serial numbers
have been found that should make it possible to identify the owner of the vehicle,
and hopefully explain how it managed to get through all the military checkpoints.
So far, investigators discovered there were three people in the truck, one man
and two women.
Meanwhile, local authorities declared three days of mourning in Chechnya for the
victims of the tragedy. Nevertheless, Chechen guerillas continue to intensify
their activities. Today, near the village of Duba-Yurt, a car filled with Russian
soldiers drove over a mine and exploded, killing three soldiers instantly and
injuring four others.
On Monday, near this same place, Chechen resistance fighters blew up a Russian
armored personnel carrier; two soldiers died in the blast. And on Sunday, again
near that same village, another explosion occurred, only this time no one was
killed or injured.