TRAIN DERAILMENT IN RUSSIA WAS A TERRORIST ATTACK

Interesing how the Russians have no problem labeling a terrorist attack a terrorist attack.

From the LA Times:

Bomb caused derailment, Russian officials say

Crews investigate the site of a train derailment near the border of the Novgorod and Tver provinces. The rural area is 250 miles northwest of Moscow and 150 miles southeast of St. Petersburg. (Ivan Sekretarev, Associated Press / November 28, 2009)

UGLOVKA, RUSSIA - Russian officials opened a terrorism investigation Saturday, saying that a homemade bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg route caused a derailment that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more.

The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Borotnikov, was quoted by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news as saying that an improvised explosive device equivalent to 15 pounds (7 kilograms) of TNT had detonated when the train passed over it Friday night about 9:30 p.m. Remains of the device were found at the site of the crash, Borotnikov said.

"Indeed, this was a terrorist attack," Interfax cited Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, as saying. He told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the bomb crater on the track was 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep.

The derailment of the upscale train, which was popular with government officials and business executives, would be Russia's deadliest terrorist strike outside the volatile North Caucasus region in years.

Witness accounts appeared to back up reports of a bomb blast.

"It was immensely scary. I think it was an act of terrorism because there was a bang," passenger Vitaly Rafikov told Channel One state television. He said he helped with the rescue, hauling victims from the wreckage and lighting fires for warmth.

Passenger Igor Pechnikov was in the second of the three derailed cars.

"A trembling began, and the carriage jolted violently to the left. I flew through half of the carriage," he said.

Terrorism has been a major concern in Russia since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, as Chechen rebels have clashed with government forces in two wars and Islamist separatists continue to target law enforcement officials.

Note, Chechen Rebels equals Muslims.

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told APTN that Islamist separatists who operate in the North Caucasus and nationalist groups would naturally fall under suspicion.

Across Russia's North Caucasus region, attacks are relatively frequent. In August, a suicide bombing of a police station in Ingushetia's capital killed 25 people and injured 164. A September 2004 attack on a school in the North Ossetian town of Beslan ignited a three-day hostage-taking ordeal in which more than 330 hostages were killed in a botched rescue. In addition, a December 2003 suicide bombing of a train near Chechnya killed 44 people.

But outside the volatile southern region, the last fatal terrorist attacks occurred in August 2004. A suicide car bombing in Moscow that month killed 10 people only days after bombs ripped through two passenger aircraft, killing more than 80 people. Those attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels, as was a February 2004 Moscow subway bombing that killed 40 people.

A 2002 hostage-taking at a Moscow theater ended with the deaths of around 130 people.

Another train derailment in June 2005 left at least 12 injured on a train that had been traveling from Chechnya to Moscow.