A Web site known for militant Muslim comment yesterday published a claim of responsibility for the crashes of two Russian airliners, connecting the action to Russia's fight against separatists in Chechnya.
The statement was signed "the Islambouli Brigades." A group with a similar name has claimed responsibility for at least one other attack, but the authenticity of yesterday's statement could not immediately be confirmed.
Russian officials have said that terrorism is among the possibilities being investigated in the Tuesday night crashes that killed 89 people. They have also suggested that human error or bad jet fuel could have been the cause.
A spokesman for the Federal Security Service said he could not immediately comment on the Web site's statement.
Russian officials have repeatedly contended that the rebels who have been fighting Russian forces in Chechnya for nearly five years receive help from foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda.
Yesterday's claim did not refer to al-Qaeda, but a group called "the Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaeda" claimed responsibility for last month's attempt to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister-designate.
The statement did not give details on how the alleged attacks on the Russian planes occurred. The planes went down within minutes of each other after both had taken off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport.
"Our mujahedeen, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness," the statement said.
It was not clear whether the statement claimed that Chechens themselves staged attacks on the planes.
Chechen rebels and their supporters are blamed for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks in Chechnya and the rest of Russia over the past several years, including last year's suicide bombings of an outdoor rock concert in Moscow and another outside a hotel near Red Square.
The crashes took place just five days before Chechens were to vote for the republic's president, to replace Kremlin-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov who was assassinated in a May 9 bomb attack.
Officials had warned that Chechen separatists might try to carry out attacks ahead of the vote, which is part of the Kremlin's strategy of trying to undermine the insurgents by establishing a modicum of civil order in the region.
Despite those warnings, officials have held back on connecting this week's crashes with terrorism. However, on Thursday, the Russian presidential envoy for the region that includes Chechnya, Vladimir Yakovlev, conceded that terrorism was seen as the most likely cause.
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