Islamists from the North Caucasus have claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Russian passenger train, according to a statement posted yesterday on a Web site linked to Chechen rebels.
“This operation was prepared and executed along with other acts of sabotage, planned from the start of this year and successfully carried out against a set of strategically important sites in Russia, on the orders of Caucasus Emir Dokku Umarov,” said the statement on the KavkazCenter.com Web site.
Umarov is the self-proclaimed leader of the “Caucasus Emirate,” which has sought to unite various Islamist groups in Russia’s North Caucasus and establish Islamic Shariah rule in the region.
Friday’s bombing killed 27 people and injured around 100 more passengers on the Nevsky Express running from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.
The statement was carried on KavkazCenter.com, a Web site that has previously been used as a mouthpiece for Chechen rebels. It said the train “was mainly used by the ruling bureaucrats of Russia.”
At least two government officials were killed in the train bombing, and the chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, was injured by a remote-controlled bomb blast when he arrived at the scene the next day.
There was no immediate way to verify the claim. Chechen rebels have issued claims before that turned out to be bogus.
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