EURASIA INSIGHT

AZERBAIJAN: TYUMEN-BAKU TRAIN ESCAPES BOMBING INCIDENT

11/30/09

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is linking a railway explosion that took place on November 30 in Russia’s North Caucasian republic of Dagestan to a blast that derailed the Nevskiy Express train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg three days earlier.

The latest explosion struck roughly 30 minutes before a train en route to Baku, Azerbaijan, from the Siberian town of Tyumen, arrived at the blast site, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. The train managed to stay on the tracks, skidding for about 150 meters along the railway’s damaged section before coming to a halt. No cars derailed and no injuries were reported, the Azerbaijani APA news agency reported. The Russian region of Dagestan shares a border with Azerbaijan.

"We know that a second attempt at an analogous terrorist act has taken place in Dagestan," said Putin at a meeting with First Vice-Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, according to the daily Komsomol’skaya Pravda. "Regarding the ensuring security of the infrastructure more broadly, there can only be one way: working toward prevention."

Twenty-seven passengers died on November 27 when a bomb sent the Moscow-St. Petersburg express train off the rails, Zubkov told Putin during the same meeting, according to the Komsomol’skaya Pravda report. Eighty-seven were hospitalized as a result of the incident, with 20 listed in critical condition. The explosion shook up residents of both cities, given the route’s popularity with government officials, businessmen and tourists.

Russian news sources were reporting that Islamist militants in the North Caucasus are to blame for both attacks. Seven more explosive devices were reportedly disarmed on November 30 in Leninaul, near Dagestan’s border with Chechnya, while an eighth went off in the same city wounding a Russian soldier.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the explosions. Russia’s independent Ekho Moskvy radio station reported that a counter-terrorism operation is underway in the nearby republic of Ingushetia, where authorities have engaged in firefights with armed gunmen.

Posted November 30, 2009 © Eurasianet
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