Terror Attack In Russia

Russia Today h/t Gateway Pundit:

Large blast hits Southern Russia
17 August, 2009, 17:19

At least 20 people have been killed and another 57 injured, including nine children, in a powerful explosion in the city of Nazran in Russia’s Southern Republic of Ingushetia.

That’s according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's office.

A terrorist drove his light commercial vehicle, Gazelle, filled with explosives estimated from 20 to 50 kilograms of TNT, into the courtyard of the building housing the police headquarters.

Volunteers carry a dead body at the site of the explosion / AFP Photo / Kazbek BasayevHe chose the time of the 9 O’clock morning formation of personnel.

The explosion destroyed part of the building, setting the rest of it on fire. 80 fire-fighters and members of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) are working on the site and have already put the fire out. They continue to look for survivors under the debris.

RIA Novosti news agency informs that law-enforcement agencies of Ingushetia knew about the attack beforehand and were looking for the vehicle with explosive, but did not manage to spot it in time.

When the terrorist, in a commercial vehicle, headed into the closed gates of the yard in front of republic’s police headquarters, the guards opened fire at the truck but did not succeed in neutralizing the militant. Once the vehicle got inside the courtyard, an explosion rocked the premises.

The police headquarters building has been completely destroyed by the blast and the fire that followed. The ammunition and cartridges stored inside the building also exploded. More than 20 cars parked in the courtyard have been burned out.

The nearby apartment houses of bearing-wall construction have also being damaged and many of the people living in them were injured when all the windows were instantly blown out. Emergency teams are working to evacuate the area.

A human head was found some 50 meters from the epicenter of the explosion. It allegedly belongs to the kamikaze-terrorist who exploded his car this morning. If so, it will significantly facilitate his identification and give a vital boost to investigators.

The president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who himself has just been discharged from hospital in Moscow after a suicide bomb attack in June, ordered a tightening of the security of federal properties in Ingushetia.

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Vladimir Markin said, “The most likely motives are revenge for the war that police are waging against militants, or an attempt to destabilize the situation in the region.”

The leadership of the republic categorically links this terror attack is an attempt by militants to destabilize the situation in the region once its president has returned to his duties.

President Yevkurov is connecting the attack to the tightening of security operations against militants on the border with the neighboring Chechen Republic.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations is sending a heavy transport aircraft with medical equipment to the Republic of Ingushetia.

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has formed a special commission to investigate the case.

Local authorities have announced three days of mourning in the republic.

A criminal case on several charges including murder has been opened.