RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No.
107, Part I, 9 June 2003
Chechen website blames Grozny explosion on Russian death squads
Eleven people, including nine children, were killed early on 6 June in an explosion
that destroyed part of a five-story building in Grozny, Russian news agencies
reported. Chechen Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko told Interfax later the same
day that the blast was almost certainly caused by a gas leak rather than an act
of terrorism. But chechenpress.com on 7 June said most Chechens are convinced
the explosion was the work of a Russian death squad and was carried out as retaliation
for the suicide bombing in Mozdok the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 June
2003). The death toll in that bombing has risen to 20. On 6 June, President Maskhadov's
representative Salambek Maigov appealed to any women who intend to commit similar
suicide assaults to refrain from doing so, chechenpress.com reported. At the same
time, Maigov appealed to Russian President Putin to halt the "slaughter" in Chechnya,
of which such women's closest relatives are among the victims. LF