http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-29/caught-tape-suicide-bombing-russias-fifth-largest-train-station-kills-15-one-month-a
Caught On Tape: Suicide Bombing In Russia's Fifth Largest Train Station Kills 15, One Month Ahead Of Sochi Games
Two months ago, we reported when a female suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a bus in the Russian city of Volgograd, located 400 miles northeast of Sochi where the winter Olympic games begin in just over a month.
The explosion was caught on dashcam (the video can be seen here). But more than a mere isolated terrorist incident in a region of Russia which has historically been rife with conflict between Russia and Chechen separatists, this explosion, which took place just after Russia managed to impose its will in the Syrian conflict's outcome, and left Saudi (and Israeli) relations with the US in tatters, we reminded readers just who is the invisible hand behind all terrorist activities in proximity to Sochi: Saudi Arabia.
Recall from our commentary on the October Volgograd explosion:
Disturbing as this video is, we believe it is only going to get worse as the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics approach. Recall from "Meet Saudi Arabia's Bandar bin Sultan: The Puppetmaster Behind The Syrian War":Bandar told Putin, "...The terrorist threat is growing in light of the phenomena spawned by the Arab Spring. We have lost some regimes. And what we got in return were terrorist experiences, as evidenced by the experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the extremist groups in Libya.... As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. TheChechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us...Was today's terrorist explosion just a warning shot ultimately funded and organized by none other than the biggest loser from the Syrian detente: Saudi Arabia, because recall that it was Saudi Arabia which orchestrated the near-US invasion after playing Obama and Kerry like a fiddle, in hopes of getting the natgas pipeline under Syria. Following the Putin-brokered peace plan, Saudi will now have to wait at least one more year before re-escalating tensions in the Syria region with hopes of installing its own puppet regime. In the meantime, is Saudi now openly lashing out at the one country that made this delay a reality. And if so,when, where and how will Putin retaliate against the country that serves as the anchor of the petrodollar system? We look forward to finding out.
It's two months later and if indeed Bandar bin Sultan is in funding and enabling the local terrorists, then Saudi Arabia is increasingly demonstrating its displeasure with Russia, and furthermore, sending a warning to the world that the Sochi games may be hazardous to one's health. Overnight, another almost identical explosion rocked Volgograd, when a female suicide bomber set off a bomb in one of the five largest train stations in Russia in what is a clear warning to Russia as the Winter Olympics approach.
This is what happened earlier today:
A suicide bombing has killed at least 14 people and injured over 40 in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, raising concerns about terrorism just over a month before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The train station attacked today is one of the five largest in Russia
and is a major transit point for much of southern Russia. It was unclear
whether the train station was the woman's intended target or whether
she planned to travel elsewhere to carry out an attack.A female bomber carried out the blast in a Volgograd train station, 400 miles from the site of the upcoming Olympics in the Russian resort town of Sochi, Russian authorities said. The Sochi 2014 Olympic Games are scheduled to begin on Feb. 7. A total of 33 people were hospitalized, with eight in serious condition and one in "extremely serious condition," Oleg Solagai, a spokesman for the Russian health ministry, told Russian news agency Rossiya24.Authorities in Volgograd said the attack left 27 people seriously injured, and that the death toll may increase. A police officer was among the dead, and a nine-year-old girl was injured, authorities said.A severed head found at the site of the bombing is suspected to be that of the woman who carried out the attack, making it "possible to identify her," a Volgograd law enforcement source told the Russian news agency Interfax. Investigators have reason to believe the woman came from Russia's Dagestan region, the source told the agency.The bombing took place in the same city where another female suicide bomber was blamed for an attack an October bus attack that killed seven people, including the bomber. Like the October bomb attack, today's blast was caught on camera. Surveillance video showed the exact moment the explosion took place, just inside an entranceway to the train station.Volgograd reeled from the attack just before the New Year's celebrations, a major holiday in Russia that would have likely meant a high amount of traffic was passing through the train station today. Yulia Chemova with Volunteers of Russia, who was at the railway station minutes after the attack to help out, told ABC News she believed the attack was planned around the New Year holiday."The timing for the terrorist attack in Volgograd is perfect," she said. "It's holiday season; airports and train stations are packed at this time of year."There have been 32 terrorist attacks in Russia in the year ahead of Sochi 2014, according to Kavkazskiyuzel, a Russian think tank.The power of today's explosion was equivalent to at least 22 pounds of TNT, and police officers averted a much larger tragedy by stopping the woman right at the entrance to the train station, according to a committee investigating the attack.Had she made it inside, a spokesman for the committee said, casualties could have reached the hundreds. Russia's interior ministry said it would deploy more police at all rail stations in Russia and that passengers would be subject to strict security measures.Today's attack bore some similarities to the October bus bombing, which authorities said was also carried out by a woman from Dagestan. Russia has for years been fighting an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, a region that encompasses the restive Russian regions of Chechnya and Dagestan, as well as the Olympic host city, Sochi.Suicide bombers, often female, from Chechnya or Dagestan and sometimes known as "black widows," have carried out many attacks on Russian targets in the past decade, including the dual bombing of the Moscow subway in 2010 that claimed 39 lives. Female bombers from the Caucasus were also blamed for the simultaneous bombing of two Russian airplanes in 2004, an attack that killed 90 people.
And, as noted, the explosion was caught on video and can be seen below:
So, like before, if Saudi Arabia is doing its best to poke Vladimir Putin with ever escalating provocations, how long until the former KGB spy retaliates?
http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-suicide-bombing-2013-12
At Least 18 People Killed In Suicide Bombing In Russia
At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured Sunday when a suicide bomber blew herself up in a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd ahead of February's Olympic Games in nearby Sochi.
Regional officials said the woman set off her charge near the metal detectors stationed at the entrance to the city's main train station while it was packed with afternoon travellers.
Footage on Russian state television showed windows blown off across the top two floors of the grey brick building and numerous ambulances gathered at the station's front entrance amid piles of debris and snow.
"Initial indications are that the blast was set off by a female suicide bomber," the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a statement.
Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said officials had launched an inquiry into a suspected "act of terror".
A regional government spokesman told the RIA Novosti news agency that at least 18 people were killed and more than 40 injured in the attack.
But a federal health ministry spokesman told Russian state television that the number of people wounded stood at more than 50.
The city of Volgograd -- known as Stalingrad in the Soviet era -- was already attacked in October by a female suicide bomber with links to Islamists fighting federal forces in Russia's volatile North Caucasus.
The October 21 strike killed six people aboard a crowded bus and immediately raised security fears ahead of the February 4-23 Winter Games in Sochi.
The Black Sea city lies 690 kilometres (425 miles) southwest of Volgograd and in direct proximity to the violence ravaging North Caucasus regions such as Dagestan and Chechnya on a daily basis.
Militants are seeking to impose an Islamist state throughout Russia's North Caucasus. Their leader Doku Umarov has ordered his footsoldiers to target civilians outside the region and disrupt the Olympic Games.
The Sochi Games' success carries heavy political overtones for the Kremlin amid its efforts to use patriotism to mobilise support for President Vladimir Putin's 14-year rule.
Putin staked his personal reputation on the Games' success by lobbying for Sochi's candidacy before the International Olympic Committee and then spending more than $50 billion (36 billion euros) for the event.
Russian authorities have repeatedly vowed to take the highest security precautions in Sochi, and there have been few indications to date of foreign sports fans cancelling their attendance out of security fears.
Female suicide bombers are often referred to in Russia as "black widows" -- women who seek to avenge the deaths of their family members in North Caucasus fighting by targeting Russian civilians.
Female suicide bombers set off blasts at two Moscow metro stations in March 2010 that killed more than 35 people.
So-called black widows were also responsible for taking down two passenger jets that took off from a Moscow airport within minutes of each other in 2004, killing about 90 people.
http://rt.com/news/volgograd-suicide-bombing-updates-940/
Volgograd railway station blast LIVE UPDATES
A blast ripped through a railway station in Volgograd in Russia’s south, killing at 14 people. It was reportedly caused by a suicide bomber, who set off the bomb just before it could be discovered at a checkpoint.
19:16 GMT: UN Security Council has condemned the Volgograd bombing “in the strongest terms” and registered its condolences for the victims and their families, the body’s official statement reads.
18:52 GMT: The terror attack is “one in a long list,” Dr. Yoran Kahati from the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism told RT. “If it is true that it was carried out by this woman...of radical Islam, of Chechen origin, then this sort of attack happened before in the same area about two months ago. Even in Moscow itself…again by suicide…in one of the major airports.”
He attributed the attacks to the desire to raise awareness of issues surrounding Russia’s Caucuses on a global level, and also suggested that Sochi’s occurrence in six weeks held some sway. He said it was “to try to frighten to some extent, although it’s not clear if it’s going to be successful, participants of states taking part in Sochi; maybe because one can say ‘Well, it is not safe enough.’”
Kahati acknowledged that security levels are extremely high and underscored how such attacks occur in other parts of the world, mentioning the Chechen instigators of the Boston Marathon bombings in April. “To prevent such attacks we need very good intelligence, and of course cooperation.”
He attributed the attacks to the desire to raise awareness of issues surrounding Russia’s Caucuses on a global level, and also suggested that Sochi’s occurrence in six weeks held some sway. He said it was “to try to frighten to some extent, although it’s not clear if it’s going to be successful, participants of states taking part in Sochi; maybe because one can say ‘Well, it is not safe enough.’”
Kahati acknowledged that security levels are extremely high and underscored how such attacks occur in other parts of the world, mentioning the Chechen instigators of the Boston Marathon bombings in April. “To prevent such attacks we need very good intelligence, and of course cooperation.”
17:45 GMT: According to the recent evidence, the suicide attack could have been carried out by both a woman and a man, Interfax reported.
17:37 GMT: Investigators have found new evidence that the suicide bomber could have been a man whose name has not been identified yet. Interfax news agency reported that a male finger with a pin from a grenade was found at the scene.
16:25 GMT: Volgograd regional government has confirmed that the death toll from the suicide attack has reached 16 people, following the deaths of two additional victims at local hospitals.
16:19 GMT: The European Council has condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous” terror attack in Volgograd. The Council’s president, Herman Van Rompuy, has expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims and “solidarity to the Government and people of Russia."
16:15 GMT: The regional government has set the terror threat level at “yellow,” the second highest, for the next 15 days.
15:57 GMT: The death toll in the Volgograd bombing has reached 16 as another man has died in hospital, the Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing its sources.
14:57 GMT: So far, a total nine of 15 victims – six men and three women – have been identified.
14:57 GMT: So far, a total nine of 15 victims – six men and three women - have been identified.
14:50 GMT: Preliminary identified suicide bomber Oksana Aslanova. She has reportedly been on a wanted list since June 2012.
12:26 GMT: Of the 34 people injured by the Volgograd blast eight are in a serious condition, including the girl, the Health Ministry said. One person is in critical condition. Other patients are being examined.
12:19 GMT: The updated death toll from the suicide bombing is 14 people, Investigative Committee’s Markin, said. 34 people are in hospital in the wake of the attack. The remains of the bomber have been recovered at the scene, he confirmed.
The bomber apparently set off her bomb when she saw a police officer approaching her at the railway checkpoint, Markin said.
12:11 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry has sent a fully equipped plane from Moscow to Volgograd, which would be able to transport up to 20 people back to the Russian capital. Medical personnel, including experienced trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons and other specialists, are on board.
12:07 GMT: The child injured in the blast is a nine-year-old girl. Volgograd mayor, Irina Guseva, told Interfax. The girl’s mother shielded her with her own body, which allowed her to survive the blast, but she remains in a serious condition.
Guseva added that taxi drivers, who were waiting for clients right next to the railway station, were among the first responders to the disaster and helped with taking the victims to hospital. “If it were not for them, there would be more people dead,” she said.
11:51 GMT: Russia’s council of mufti, “angrily condemns the actions of terrorists, who commit a grievous sin by killing innocent people,” the Russian Muslim cooperation organization said in a statement, adding that Islam has nothing to do with the crimes, which terrorist commit under the false pretense of following the religion’s precepts.
“We mourn and pray to the Almighty to give patience and courage to the families of the victims and swift recovery to those suffering from this terrible attack,” the statement said.
11:49 GMT: The bomb used by the Volgograd suicide bomber was equivalent to at least 10 kg of TNT, the Investigative Committee said. The explosive core was covered with metal fragments to make the bomb more deadly.
11:45 GMT: Investigators have recovered the head of the suspected suicide bomber at Volgograd railway station, a security source told Interfax. This would facilitate identifying the attacker, the source said.
Earlier a photo surfaces showing metal rubble and what appears to be a charred human head with long hair lying among it. RT does not publish the graphic image due to ethical concerns.
11:44 GMT
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