A security officer has been killed as he tried to defuse a bomb in Moscow's main
thoroughfare in the early hours of Thursday. Police have detained a young Chechen
woman who had threatened to blow up a restaurant in Tverskaya Street. Had the
terrorist succeeded in carrying out her plan, dozens of human lives could have
been lost.
On Wednesday night Russian law enforcers prevented a terrorist attack in the very
heart of Moscow. The police detained a suicide bomber who had threatened to detonate
a homemade explosive device in a crowded restaurant.
At about 2340 the city police received a report from the Imbir restaurant, located
at 16, 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, about a suspicious customer. As a spokesman
for the city's main police directorate told Gazeta.Ru, the security guards had
noticed a girl aged about 20 standing near the door of the restaurant. The girl
was of Caucasian origin and her behaviour had aroused suspicion. The guards decided
to check her ID documents.
But as they approached the girl began to shout that she has a bomb in her bag,
which she was about to detonate. Police officers dispatched to the scene took
the girl outside, forced the bag from her and handcuffed her. To be on the safe
side the guards covered the bag with body armour.
By midnight a Gazeta.Ru correspondent reporting from the scene said that the 1st
Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street had been cordoned off, jamming the city centre's streets
with traffic. Customers were evacuated from several cafes, and residents of neighbouring
houses were warned about the bomb threat. Several ambulances arrived at the scene.
A team of explosives experts examined the contents of the bag with the help of
a robot, which confirmed that there was a bomb inside. At first the security officers
tried to dispose of the deadly device from a distance, using a water cannon, but
it would not detonate. Then an FSB expert dressed in protective armour began examining
the bag. At approximately 0215, as he bent down to inspect its contents, the bomb
went off killing him immediately. Police officers said he had not touched the
bag.
According to preliminary reports the power of the device amounted to about 400
grams of TNT. A law enforcement official in comments for Gazeta.Ru noted that
had the bomb exploded inside the restaurant, it could have claimed dozens of lives.
However, other than the FSB officer, no one was hurt.
The woman detained by the police was taken to FSB headquarters at Lubyanka for
questioning. According to preliminary reports, the girl is an ethnic Chechen,
born in 1980. She arrived in Moscow from the Northern Caucasus. A probe into the
attempted terror attack has been launched by the FSB and the prosecutor's office
of Moscow. The top city prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov said ''The investigation views
the event as a continuation of a series of terrorist attacks perpetrated lately
in Moscow.'' There are also unconfirmed reports that a Chechen man in his mid
20s was detained in Moscow earlier today in connection with the latest blast.
The incident comes five days after a suicide bomb attack killed 16, including
the two bombers, at an open-air rock festival and sparked fears of a bombing campaign
by Chechen separatists.