VLADIKAVKAZ - A top Chechen official said Monday that 16 civilians were
killed in a bus explosion that occurred six days earlier but had not been
previously made public.
Anatoly Popov, the prime minister of Chechnya's Moscow-appointed government, said
in an interview with Russia's NTV television that a minibus was blown up last
Tuesday near Khankala, the military's main base in the region, killing 16.
"These were construction workers - mostly women," he said.
It was the first time any officials had spoken of the incident. Popov's comments
came in response to a video posted on a Chechen rebel Web site that showed a minibus
being blown up by a remote- controlled mine. The site, www.kavkazcenter.com, said
the attack occurred Tuesday and that the bus was carrying Russian troops.
The video shows a minibus exploding in a ball of fire, leaving a pile of burnt
and twisted metal. A person is seen running from the wreckage. After rescuers
arrive, another explosion occurs.
The Web site, which also dated the attack Tuesday, said 17 people - members of
Chechnya's pro-Moscow paramilitary police force and Russian troops - were killed.
Popov denied any troops had been on the bus. He insisted that he and other officials
were immediately informed of the attack and evaded questions about why the media
was not informed.
Russian officials rarely give prompt and complete information about military losses.
However, rebel attacks on civilians are usually reported immediately.
At least six people were killed and 11 wounded in a bus explosion in March in
the capital Grozny. That bus also carried construction workers returning from
Khankala, as well as other civilians.
News of Tuesday's attacks clashed with Russian claims that peace is returning
to the region in the wake of a March 23 referendum in which Chechen voters approved
a constitution that solidifies the region's status as part of Russia. The Kremlin,
which has refused to negotiate with the separatists, has touted the vote as the
beginning of a political settlement, but human rights advocates say no vote can
be fair during wartime.
Earlier Monday, a top official said Moscow was preparing to shift control over
the region from the main KGB successor agency to the Interior Ministry in an apparent
attempt to show that the 3 1/2-year war is ending.
Deputy Interior Minister Vyacheslav Tikhomirov said the ministry was expected
to take charge of Chechnya operations some time in the second half of the year,
the Interfax-Military News Agency reported.
The Federal Security Service has been in charge of the war since January 2001
after taking over from the Defense Ministry.
At least 11 Russian servicemen were killed in Chechnya in the latest series of
raids and land mine explosions staged by the rebels since Sunday, an official
with Chechnya's Moscow-appointed administration said.
The federal forces continued their regular security sweeps, detaining at least
150 people in several Chechen cities on suspicion of being linked to the rebels,
said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
/The Associated Press/
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Kavkaz-Center replies:
Confused reaction of the puppet administration
The invaders' puppet administration in Chechnya has finally reacted to the
documentary evidence on the elimination of a group of invaders and collaborators.
Six days after the blast and 24 hours after the information was published
on the Kavkaz Center website, an official from the invaders' administration
in Jokhar (Grozny), Popov, made a sudden comment on the fact of the elimination
of the invaders.
Popov stated that the whole story is totally different, and that «it was
civilians who got blown up instead of the military», TVS Channel reported.
Anatoly Popov was trying to claim: «No secret services were present. Very
ordinary peaceful civilians had died, - the construction workers. The construction
workers were coming from work. Their bus got blown up, and mainly women,
who worked at different construction sites, had died. No officials from
secret services were there. The most peaceful occupation is a construction
worker – these are the people who died».
However, Popov's comments are showing obvious confusion and inability of
the invaders' structures to give more or less digestible explanation on
the fact of the elimination of Russian commandos and collaborators by a
Chechen sabotage group. Even Russian mass media do not take Popov's statement
seriously. The mass media were surprised by the fact that «the terrorist
act against female construction workers was being so thoroughly concealed
all this time».