Chechen suicide attacks
Encyclopedia
In June 2000, the North Caucasian
Chechen
separatist
-led Islam
ic insurgents
added suicide bombing to their tactics in their struggle against Russia
. Since then, there have been dozens of suicide attacks within and outside the republic of Chechnya
, resulting in thousands of casualties among Russian security personnel and civilians. The profiles of the suicide bombers have varied, as have the circumstances surrounding the bombings.
Although the most publicized Chechen suicide attacks took place in Moscow
, attacks have occurred predominantly in Chechnya, while several additional attacks took place in the extended North Caucasus region and in particular in the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia
. The majority of suicide bombings, targeting military installations and government compounds in and around Chechnya and also top government officials, have been directed against those whom the separatists consider to be combatant
s.
, with a few known exceptions. Although some of the attacks may have also been carried out by Ingush
, an ethnic group closely related to the Chechens (the Ingush bear a separate set of grudges against Russia, including Russian support of the Ossetian side of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict), none have occurred in the republics of Dagestan
and Kabardino-Balkaria
or with any known involvement of local rebel groups there.
There is no evidence of any foreign involvement in either the planning or execution of Chechen suicide attacks aside from the inspiration from the tactics employed in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In contrast to Palestinian suicide bombers, whose families are offered large cash rewards, no financial rewards are given. Female suicide bomber
s, referred to as "shahidka
" by Chechens (meaning a female Islamic martyr) or "Black Widows" by Russians (as they have often had their husbands [and/or children] killed by the Russian army or the Kadyrovtsy
), comprise a clear majority of Chechen suicide attackers; this trend stands in direct contrast to ongoing suicide bomb campaigns in Israel
and Iraq
, where women constitute only a small minority of suicide bombers.
What is also somewhat unique about Chechen bombing is that although the tactics used are largely similar to those used by Islamic militants, religion is usually not the cited motivation, despite Russian claims. For example, 2000 female bomber Khava Barayeva stated that she attacked in the name of Chechen independence, and urged more Chechens to do the same for their national honor.
Family members of identified suicide bombers often suffer severe reprisals (beatings, arson
attacks, kidnappings, torture
and murder) at the hands of masked gunmen presumed to be government agents and members of pro-Kremlin militias , although the same may be said about the relatives of all Chechen rebels.
Through the first five years of the Chechen-Russian conflict (including the First Chechen War
and most of the first year of the Second Chechen War
), there were no planned suicide bombings related to Chechnya. The highest concentrations of suicide attacks to date occurred in the following time periods:
Radical rebel commander Shamil Basayev
and his suicide terrorist group, Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs
, claimed responsibility for many of them.
In late 2004, following the Beslan
disaster, attacks (excluding those against the Kadyrov regime) ceased for four years due to major changes in tactics employed by the separatist movement. The reason for this was cited as a certain amount of shame over Beslan on the part of the Chechen separatists. A spokesman said in 2004 that "A bigger blow could not have been dealt on us... People around the world will think that Chechens are beasts and monsters if they could attack children."
The bombings resumed by 2008 and in April 2009. Caucasus Emirate
leader Doku Umarov
announced the reactivation of the Riyadus-Salikhin suicide terrorist group, which had been disbanded in 2006 at the behest of Umarov's predecessor Sheikh Abdul Halim
. Numerous attacks were then conducted during what Umarov called the "year of offensive"
. The Emirate's leadership has been compelled to revert to the tactic of istishhad
by the influx of volunteers, which has coincided with a severe shortage of food and weapons.
: June 6–11, 2000 - Chechnya experienced its first suicide bombings when two Chechen girls, 22-year old Khava Barayeva and 16-year-old Luiza Magomadova, and Russian former prisoner of war and Islam convert Djabrail Sergeyev (Sergey Dimitriyev) attacked separate checkpoints manned by Russian paramilitary police in the Chechen capital Grozny
and in the village of Alkhan-Yurt with two car bombs, killing at least four OMON
troops (25 Russians were killed according to rebels).
July 2000 Chechnya bombings
: July 2–3, 2000 - Chechen guerrillas launched five or six suicide bomb attacks targeting various Russian military and police headquarters and barracks within 24 hours, killing at least 54 people and injuring more than 100, including civilians. The most deadly of the attacks killed 25 Russian MVD troops and injured 81 at the Interior Ministry base in the town of Argun
(this bombing was also filmed from a safe distance). In the city of Gudermes
, 11 people were killed at a police station. Other, less successful attacks in Grozny, Urus Martan and Novogroznensky resulted in the government losses of eight killed and three missing, according to official reports. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for organization of the attacks, which according to Movladi Udugov
, resulted in more than 600 federal casualties.
August 2000 Chechnya bombings: A series of attacks in Urus-Martan, Khankala
, Argun and elsewhere killed at least 30 people and injured 50.
November 2000 Urus-Martan bombing: November 29, 2001 - A young Chechen woman, Aiza Gazuyeva
(aged 18 or 20), blew up herself with a hand grenade
, killing Russian General Gaidar Gadzhiyev, whom she blamed for the death of her detained husband. Two other soldiers were also killed and two were injured.
2002 Grozny bombing: December 27, 2002 - Two Chechen suicide bombers, Gelani Tumriyev and his 17-year-old half-Russian daughter, Alina Tumriyeva, dressed in Russian military uniforms and using official passes, drove a truck bomb into the heavily guarded main republican administration compound in Grozny, wrecking the four-story "government house". At least 83 people were killed and 210 injured, many of them Chechen and federal government officials. Deputy Prime Minister Zina Batyzheva was seriously hurt and a deputy military commandant of Chechnya was also injured. The explosion had the force of one ton of TNT. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for both the planning and execution of the attack, which was recorded by camera.
2003 Znamenskoye bombing
: On May 12, 2003, three suicide bombers (a man and two women) drove a truck full of explosives into a government complex in Znamenskoye, northern Chechnya. The blast gutted the regional republican FSB
headquarters responsible for coordinating the ongoing "counter-terrorist operation" in all of Chechnya. At least 59 people were killed and about 200 injured in the filmed attack, including many civilians in the nearby marketplace.
2003 Iliskhan-Yurt bombing: May 14, 2003 - Pro-Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov
was targeted by a pair of female suicide bombers (Shakhidat Baymuradova and Zulai Abdulazakova) at a religious festival in the village of Iliskhan-Yurt. The pair were however stopped by his bodyguards. An explosive device detonated by Baymuradova, a 46-year-old veteran woman guerrilla, killed 16 people, including Abdulazakova, and injured 43 others.
June 2003 Mozdok bombing: June 5, 2003 - An unidentified female suicide bomber, apparently dressed as a medic, attacked a bus carrying Russian Air Force
pilots and other personnel (including civilian workers) to the Mozdok airbase in North Ossetia
, killing at least 17 of them and injuring 14. Mozdok Air Base has been used by the Russian federal forces for operations in Chechnya since 1994.
June 2003 Grozny bombing: June 20, 2003 - A truck bomb attack on a cluster of Grozny government buildings, including headquarters of the OMON special police and the Justice Ministry, failed when the bomb exploded prematurely, killing up to eight and injuring some 36.
August 2003 Mozdok bombing: August 1, 2003 - An unidentified suicide bomber driving a KamAZ
truck packed with one ton of explosives blew up a military hospital
treating the military casualties from Chechnya in another attack at Mozdok, North Ossetia, less than two months after the airbase bus blast. The massive explosion destroyed the hospital building completely, collapsing it and killing at least 50 and injuring 82, mostly wounded or sick soldiers and medical personnel. Chechen rebels loyal to the Aslan Maskhadov
government claimed they had nothing to do with the bombing. The commander of the Mozdok military hospital, Lt. Col. Artur Arakelian, was arrested on charges of criminal negligence and failure to carry out an order.
2003 Magas bombing: September 15, 2003 - Two unidentified attackers detonated a truck bomb outside the republican FSB headquarters in Magas
, the new capital of Ingushetia, killing three other people and injuring 29. The building was only slightly damaged and the devastation was limited mostly to its parking lot.
2008 Vedeno bombing: August 30, 2008 - A pair of suicide bombers in a car attacked perimeter of a base of Internal Troops
at Vedeno
, killing at least one paramilitary soldier and injuring 11 more.
May 2009 Grozny bombing: May 15, 2009 - An elderly man detonated a bomb after unsuccessfully trying to get into the Interior Ministry in Grozny, killing two policemen at the security gate and injuring at least five other people. A taxi driver who had dropped him there was gunned down by the police and then declared to be an accomplice of the attacker; the first reports said he was a civilian killed in the blast. That was the first suicide bombing in Grozny since 2003.
June 2009 Nazran bombing: June 23, 2009 - Ingush President Yunus-bek Yevkurov
was critically injured in a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade that wrecked his armoured Mercedes car. His brother, who served as his head of security, was also injured, and his driver and a bodyguard were killed. Police said they identified the bomber as an Ingush woman Pyatimat Mutaliyeva.
July 2009 Grozny bombing: July 26, 2009 - A suicide belt attack by 21-year old Rustam Mukhadiyev (Mukhadiev) outside the Grozny theatre and concert hall killed at least six people, including four high-ranking police officers (one of them sent to Chechnya from the republic of Adygea), and injured up to 10. The possible target of the attack may have been Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov
, who later accused the young Islamic rebel scholar Said Buryatsky (born as Alexander Tikhomirov) of an attempt to assassinate him. The two civilians killed in the attack were said to be from Georgia
and Turkey
, the first foreigners to have died in North Caucasus suicide attacks.
August 2009 Nazran bombing
: August 17, 2009 - A filmed suicide car bomb attack against the police headquarters in Nazran killed at least 25 and injured about 138 people, including civilians, and destroyed the main police station in the republic's largest city. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
sacked the Ingush police chief, while the Ingush President Yevkurov accused Britain, the United States and Israel as well as Islamic militants. The rebels did not reveal the bomber's identity, allegedly out of fear of reprisals against his family, but the preparation of the bombing was claimed by a young Russian, Buryat
Islamist ideologist Sheikh Buryatsky (Alexander Tikhomirov), at first widely presumed to be the man who had carried out the attack.
August 2009 Chechnya bombings: August 21–25, 2009 - Two suicide bombers riding bicycles staged an apparently coordinated pair of attacks against the Chechen police in Grozny, killing at least four officers and injuring a civilian woman, according to police officials. The use of bicycles would represent a new tactic for the insurgents. Four days later, four more policemen were killed and another one and two civilians injured in a suicide attack at a car wash in the village of Mesker-Yurt, according to the police.
2009 Makhachkala bombing: September 1, 2009 - In the reportedly first suicide attack in the Russian republic of Dagestan
, a federal customs
officer was killed and 14 people (including five police officers and four civilians) injured in the regional capital, Makhachkala
, as a result of a car bomb, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry's office in Dagestan said.
September 2009 Grozny bombing: September 16, 2009 - A female suicide bomber attacked a traffic police car at the crossroads of the Peace and Putin Avenues in the center of Grozny, killing at least one policeman and injuring at least six other people, according to a Chechen police spokesman.
December 2009 Nazran suicide bombing: December 17, 2009 - A suicide bomber blew himself up with a car bomb at a police station in Ingushetia, killing himself and injuring 23 others. It was reported that three children were among the injured. The car reportedly had a license plate from nearby Chechnya.
January 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: January 6, 2010 - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the gates of the base Battalion DPS. The bomb reportedly detonated prematurely as local police were suspicious of a vehicle trying to enter the gates to the base and rammed it. The vehicle exploded. At least six people were killed in this bombing and another 14 others were injured.
2010 Kizlyar bombings
: March 31, 2010 - In Kizlyar
, Dagestan
, two suicide bomb blasts resulted in the deaths of at least 12 people, including the local police chief for the area. It is known that the second suicide bomber had been dressed as a policeman, and it has been reported that another 29 were wounded in these blasts. The first suicide bomber detonated his car near the buildings of the Interior Ministry. The second bomber apparently struck as a team of investigators were working at the scene of the first explosion.
April 2010 Karabulak suicide bombing: April 5, 2010 - Two blasts occurred near to a police station in Karabulak
, Ingushetia
. It was reported that at least two police officers were killed and another 13 injured. At least one of these blasts was carried out by a suicide bomber. The second explosion was allegedly caused by a car nearby that had presumably been mined by the suicide bomber, who had arrived in the vehicle.
April 2010 Ingushetia suicide attack: April 9, 2010 - A female suicide bomber blew herself up after shooting dead a police officer in the village of Ekazhevo within the republic of Ingushetia.
April 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: April 29, 2010 - In Makhachkala
, Dagestan
, a suicide bomber set off a car-bomb at a police checkpoint after being stopped for an inspection. Three police officers were killed and another 16 were injured.
June 2010 Grozny suicide bombing: June 30, 2010 - In Grozny
, Chechnya, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a document check in the centre of the capital city. The suicide bomber was killed and at least 10 others were apparently injured, including at least four police officers and six civilians.
August 2010 Prigorodny suicide bombing: August 17, 2010 - In the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia, a suicide bomber blew himself up after an identification check at a police checkpoint between the borders of the North Caucasus
republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia. It was later reported that the suicide bomber and at least two police officers died. At least three others were apparently injured.
September 2010 Buinaksk suicide bombing: September 5, 2010 - A suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the gates of a military base near Buinaksk, Dagestan
. It was reported that at least five Russian soldiers were killed and that around 39 others were injured. A secondary IED
explosion apparently blew up as investigators were traveling to the scene of the first bombing. However, there were no reported casualties.
September 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: September 24, 2010 - In Makhachkala
, the capital city of Dagestan, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a police cordon. At least two police officers were killed and another 44 others were injured, some critically.
October 2010 Grozny attack: October 19, 2010 – Three gunman attacked a parliament building in Grozny, killing three and injuring another 17. All three blew themselves up when police reached them.
October 2010 Khasavyurt suicide bombing: October 23, 2010 - In Khasavyurt
, Dagestan, a suicide car-bomber attempted to drive his vehicle into a police station within the city, then blew himself up. At least one police officer was killed and 12 others were apparently injured.
February 2011 Gubden suicide bombings: February 15, 2011 - In the village of Gubden, Dagestan, it was reported that two suicide bomb explosions occurred, one of which involved a female and the other a car-bomber, both targeting a Russian security checkpoint. At least three police officers were killed and more than 25 others injured.
airfield near Moscow; her bomb did not detonate as expected. 15 minutes later, only a few meters from where Zulikhan blew herself up, 26-six-year-old Zinaida Aliyeva detonated her explosives. The attack killed 11 people on the spot, while at least 60 people were injured and four of them later died in hospital. There was no claim of responsibility from the Chechen rebels and some commentators speculated the incident might have been orchestrated by Russian intelligence agents.
2003 Stavropol train bombing
: December 5, 2003 - A shrapnel
-filled bomb, believed to have been strapped to a lone male suicide attacker, ripped apart a commuter train near Chechnya, killing 46 people and injuring nearly 200. The explosion occurred during a busy morning rush hour when the train was loaded with many students and workers; it ripped the side of the train open as it approached a station near the town of Yessentuki in Stavropol Krai
. The attacks occurred one day after Russia’s State Duma
elections.
2003 Red Square bombing: December 10, 2003 - Only five days later, a blast occurred at Red Square
in the very center of Moscow, as Khadishat Mangeriyeva (widow of separatist field commander Ruslan Mangeriyev) set off a suicide belt packed with ball bearings near the Kremlin and State Duma, killing six people and injuring 44. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for organising both of the December 2003 attacks, as well as the August aircraft bombings.
February 2004 Moscow metro bombing
: February 6, 2004 - A bomb ripped through a Moscow metro
car during rush hour
morning near the Avtozavodskaya subway station in Moscow, killing at least 40 people and injuring 134. This time, Basayev denied responsibility for the bombing. A previously unknown Chechen terrorist group claimed it launched the attack to mark the fourth anniversary of the February 2000 Novye Aldi massacre
in Chechnya.
2004 aircraft bombings
: August 24, 2004 - Two Russian airliner
s crashed nearly simultaneously in the Tula
and Rostov
regions of Russia, killing a total of 90 people. Two Chechen women, Amanta Nagayeva (30) and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova (37), have been identified as the perpetrators of the attack.
August 2004 Moscow metro bombing
: August 31, 2004 - 29-year old Roza Nagayeva (sister of Amanat Nagayeva) apparently panicked and prematurely detonated explosives before entering the Rizhskaya metro station in the Russian capital. Ten other people were killed (including her apparent handler, ethnic Ukrainian
Islamic militant Nikolai Kipkeyev) and about 30 injured in the blast.
2008 Vladikavkaz bombing
: November 6, 2008 - A suspected female suicide bomber exiting a minibus killed at least 11 people and injured as many as 40 others at a taxi-van stop next to the central market in Vladikavkaz
, capital of North Ossetia, officials said. No claim of responsibility was issued.
2010 Moscow Metro bombings
: March 28, 2010 - Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in Moscow's subway system as it was packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 40 and wounding more than 75.
2010 Vladikavkaz bombing
: September 9, 2010 - A suicide car-bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at the Central market in the city of Vladikavkaz
, capital of North Ossetia. At least 17 people were killed and more than 160 others were apparently injured, according to official reports.
2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing: January 24, 2011 - A male suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the international arrivals hall of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport
, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 180 others. Several foreign nationals were among the fatalities.
: October 23–26, 2002 - Among about 40 hostage takers at Dubrovka musical theater were some 20 young female militants who claimed to be wearing explosive belts. The women, between the ages of 16 to 26, were led by Zura Barayeva
, widow of the Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev
and also a relative of 22-year old Movsar Barayev
, the self-described leader of the entire group. On the third day of the crisis, Russian special forces raided the theater and all of the militants in the building were shot to death at close range, many after being subdued. None of the explosive devices detonated during the Russian assault; the bombs turned out to be mostly just dummies, and even the few real ones were not in working order.
Beslan school hostage crisis
: September 1–3, 2004 - A group of armed mostly Ingush and Chechen Islamic terrorists took more than 1,100 people (including 777 children) hostage at School Number One in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia. Some of the adult hostages were killed. On the third day, Russian security forces stormed the building. At least 334 hostages, including 186 children, died, hundreds more were injured and many were reported missing.
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
Chechen
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
separatist
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
-led Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic insurgents
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
added suicide bombing to their tactics in their struggle against Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Since then, there have been dozens of suicide attacks within and outside the republic of Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, resulting in thousands of casualties among Russian security personnel and civilians. The profiles of the suicide bombers have varied, as have the circumstances surrounding the bombings.
Although the most publicized Chechen suicide attacks took place in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, attacks have occurred predominantly in Chechnya, while several additional attacks took place in the extended North Caucasus region and in particular in the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
. The majority of suicide bombings, targeting military installations and government compounds in and around Chechnya and also top government officials, have been directed against those whom the separatists consider to be combatant
Combatant
A combatant is someone who takes a direct part in the hostilities of an armed conflict. If a combatant follows the law of war, then they are considered a privileged combatant, and upon capture they qualify as a prisoner of war under the Third Geneva Convention...
s.
Summary
As of 2009, most of the bombers appear to be ethnic ChechensChechen people
Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
, with a few known exceptions. Although some of the attacks may have also been carried out by Ingush
Ingush people
The Ingush are a native ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai . The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language...
, an ethnic group closely related to the Chechens (the Ingush bear a separate set of grudges against Russia, including Russian support of the Ossetian side of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict), none have occurred in the republics of Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
and Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. Population: -Geography:The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part....
or with any known involvement of local rebel groups there.
There is no evidence of any foreign involvement in either the planning or execution of Chechen suicide attacks aside from the inspiration from the tactics employed in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In contrast to Palestinian suicide bombers, whose families are offered large cash rewards, no financial rewards are given. Female suicide bomber
Female suicide bomber
Though the majority of suicide bombers have been male, female suicide bombers have carried out a number of attacks.-History:Female suicide bombers have been employed in several conflicts, by a variety of organizations, against both military and civilian targets.*In Lebanon on April 9, 1985, Sana'a...
s, referred to as "shahidka
Shahidka
Shahidka |shahid]]), sometimes called "Black Widow", is a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers, who made themselves known at the Moscow theater hostage crisis of October 2002...
" by Chechens (meaning a female Islamic martyr) or "Black Widows" by Russians (as they have often had their husbands [and/or children] killed by the Russian army or the Kadyrovtsy
Kadyrovtsy
Kadyrovtsy also Kadyrovites, is a term used by the population of Chechnya, as well as members of the groups themselves, for former members of the paramilitary units of the former pro-Moscow President of the Chechen Republic Akhmad Kadyrov, headed by his son and the current President Ramzan...
), comprise a clear majority of Chechen suicide attackers; this trend stands in direct contrast to ongoing suicide bomb campaigns in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, where women constitute only a small minority of suicide bombers.
What is also somewhat unique about Chechen bombing is that although the tactics used are largely similar to those used by Islamic militants, religion is usually not the cited motivation, despite Russian claims. For example, 2000 female bomber Khava Barayeva stated that she attacked in the name of Chechen independence, and urged more Chechens to do the same for their national honor.
Family members of identified suicide bombers often suffer severe reprisals (beatings, arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
attacks, kidnappings, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder) at the hands of masked gunmen presumed to be government agents and members of pro-Kremlin militias , although the same may be said about the relatives of all Chechen rebels.
Through the first five years of the Chechen-Russian conflict (including the First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
and most of the first year of the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
), there were no planned suicide bombings related to Chechnya. The highest concentrations of suicide attacks to date occurred in the following time periods:
- the summer of 2000, when suicide bombers used cars and trucks filled with explosives] to attack military and police targets in Chechnya
- 2003-2004, when a much-publicized wave of explosive beltExplosive beltAn explosive belt is an improvised explosive device, a belt or a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers...
terrorist attacksTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
against Russian civilianCivilianA civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s swept out of Chechnya and into Moscow - the summer of 2009. The 2009 terrorists appear to have been mostly male, targeting police and regional top officials in and near Chechnya.
Radical rebel commander Shamil Basayev
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
and his suicide terrorist group, Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs
Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs
Riyad-us Saliheen is the name of a small "martyr" force of Islamic suicide attackers. Its original leader was the Chechen separatist commander Shamil Basayev...
, claimed responsibility for many of them.
In late 2004, following the Beslan
Beslan
Beslan is a town and the administrative center of Pravoberezhny District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. In terms of population, Beslan is the third largest town in the republic behind Vladikavkaz and Mozdok...
disaster, attacks (excluding those against the Kadyrov regime) ceased for four years due to major changes in tactics employed by the separatist movement. The reason for this was cited as a certain amount of shame over Beslan on the part of the Chechen separatists. A spokesman said in 2004 that "A bigger blow could not have been dealt on us... People around the world will think that Chechens are beasts and monsters if they could attack children."
The bombings resumed by 2008 and in April 2009. Caucasus Emirate
Caucasus Emirate
The Caucasus Emirate also known as the Caucasian Emirate is a self-proclaimed virtual state entity, partially successor to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and was officially announced on October 31, 2007 by former President of Ichkeria Dokka Umarov, who became the first Emir...
leader Doku Umarov
Doku Umarov
Doku Khamatovich Umarov is a major Chechen Islamist rebel militant in Russia. He is responsible for numerous terror attacks on civilians, earning himself the nickname "Russia's Osama Bin Laden"....
announced the reactivation of the Riyadus-Salikhin suicide terrorist group, which had been disbanded in 2006 at the behest of Umarov's predecessor Sheikh Abdul Halim
Sheikh Abdul Halim
Abdul-Halim Salamovich Sadulayev was the fourth President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria...
. Numerous attacks were then conducted during what Umarov called the "year of offensive"
2009 insurgency in the North Caucasus
The insurgency in the North Caucasus continues despite the official end of the decade-long Russian "counter-terrorist operation" in Chechnya on 15 April 2009...
. The Emirate's leadership has been compelled to revert to the tactic of istishhad
Istishhad
Istishhad means the act of or the seeking of martyrdom in Islam. In recent years the term has been said to "emphasize... heroism in the act of sacrifice" rather than "victimization," and has "developed... into a military and political strategy," often called "martyrdom operations". Istishhad...
by the influx of volunteers, which has coincided with a severe shortage of food and weapons.
Russia's suicide bombing incidents
- This list is incomplete.
Attacks against Russian government targets
June 2000 Chechnya bombingsJune 2000 Chechnya suicide bombings
The June 2000 Chechnya suicide bombings were Chechnya's first suicide attacks with car bombs.On June 6, 2000, the 17-year old Khava Barayeva , accompanied by 16-year old Luiza Magomadova, drove a truck loaded with explosives through a checkpoint of an OMON base at Alkhan-Yurt in Chechnya...
: June 6–11, 2000 - Chechnya experienced its first suicide bombings when two Chechen girls, 22-year old Khava Barayeva and 16-year-old Luiza Magomadova, and Russian former prisoner of war and Islam convert Djabrail Sergeyev (Sergey Dimitriyev) attacked separate checkpoints manned by Russian paramilitary police in the Chechen capital Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
and in the village of Alkhan-Yurt with two car bombs, killing at least four OMON
OMON
OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
troops (25 Russians were killed according to rebels).
July 2000 Chechnya bombings
July 2000 Chechnya suicide bombings
The July 2000 Chechnya suicide bombings happened on July 2-July 3, 2000, when Chechen insurgents launched five suicide bomb attacks on the Russian military and police headquarters and barracks within 24 hours...
: July 2–3, 2000 - Chechen guerrillas launched five or six suicide bomb attacks targeting various Russian military and police headquarters and barracks within 24 hours, killing at least 54 people and injuring more than 100, including civilians. The most deadly of the attacks killed 25 Russian MVD troops and injured 81 at the Interior Ministry base in the town of Argun
Argun, Chechen Republic
Argun is a town in the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Argun River. Population: 22,000 ....
(this bombing was also filmed from a safe distance). In the city of Gudermes
Gudermes
Gudermes is a town in the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Sunzha River east of Grozny. Population: 32,000 .Gudermes had a rural locality status until 1941. Later, it became a railroad junction between Rostov-on-Don, Baku, Astrakhan, and Mozdok. Gudermes is home for oil extraction...
, 11 people were killed at a police station. Other, less successful attacks in Grozny, Urus Martan and Novogroznensky resulted in the government losses of eight killed and three missing, according to official reports. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for organization of the attacks, which according to Movladi Udugov
Movladi Udugov
Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov was the First Deputy Prime Minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria...
, resulted in more than 600 federal casualties.
August 2000 Chechnya bombings: A series of attacks in Urus-Martan, Khankala
Khankala
Khankala is a settlement in Groznensky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located to the east of Grozny, the republic's capital. Population:...
, Argun and elsewhere killed at least 30 people and injured 50.
November 2000 Urus-Martan bombing: November 29, 2001 - A young Chechen woman, Aiza Gazuyeva
Aiza Gazuyeva
Aiza Gazuyeva was a young Chechen woman who become the first shahidka...
(aged 18 or 20), blew up herself with a hand grenade
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
, killing Russian General Gaidar Gadzhiyev, whom she blamed for the death of her detained husband. Two other soldiers were also killed and two were injured.
2002 Grozny bombing: December 27, 2002 - Two Chechen suicide bombers, Gelani Tumriyev and his 17-year-old half-Russian daughter, Alina Tumriyeva, dressed in Russian military uniforms and using official passes, drove a truck bomb into the heavily guarded main republican administration compound in Grozny, wrecking the four-story "government house". At least 83 people were killed and 210 injured, many of them Chechen and federal government officials. Deputy Prime Minister Zina Batyzheva was seriously hurt and a deputy military commandant of Chechnya was also injured. The explosion had the force of one ton of TNT. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for both the planning and execution of the attack, which was recorded by camera.
2003 Znamenskoye bombing
2003 Znamenskoye suicide bombing
The Znamenskoye Grozny suicide bombing happened on May 12, 2003, in Znamenskoye in Chechnya, when three rebel suicide bombers, including two women, drove a truck bomb into a local government administration and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation directorate complex, killing at...
: On May 12, 2003, three suicide bombers (a man and two women) drove a truck full of explosives into a government complex in Znamenskoye, northern Chechnya. The blast gutted the regional republican FSB
FSB (Russia)
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
headquarters responsible for coordinating the ongoing "counter-terrorist operation" in all of Chechnya. At least 59 people were killed and about 200 injured in the filmed attack, including many civilians in the nearby marketplace.
2003 Iliskhan-Yurt bombing: May 14, 2003 - Pro-Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov
Akhmad Kadyrov
Hajji Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov , also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War...
was targeted by a pair of female suicide bombers (Shakhidat Baymuradova and Zulai Abdulazakova) at a religious festival in the village of Iliskhan-Yurt. The pair were however stopped by his bodyguards. An explosive device detonated by Baymuradova, a 46-year-old veteran woman guerrilla, killed 16 people, including Abdulazakova, and injured 43 others.
June 2003 Mozdok bombing: June 5, 2003 - An unidentified female suicide bomber, apparently dressed as a medic, attacked a bus carrying Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
pilots and other personnel (including civilian workers) to the Mozdok airbase in North Ossetia
North Ossetia-Alania
The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania is a federal subject of Russia . Its population according to the 2010 Census was 712,877.-Name:...
, killing at least 17 of them and injuring 14. Mozdok Air Base has been used by the Russian federal forces for operations in Chechnya since 1994.
June 2003 Grozny bombing: June 20, 2003 - A truck bomb attack on a cluster of Grozny government buildings, including headquarters of the OMON special police and the Justice Ministry, failed when the bomb exploded prematurely, killing up to eight and injuring some 36.
August 2003 Mozdok bombing: August 1, 2003 - An unidentified suicide bomber driving a KamAZ
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...
truck packed with one ton of explosives blew up a military hospital
Military hospital
Military hospital is a hospital, which is generally located on a military base and is reserved for the use of military personnel, their dependents or other authorized users....
treating the military casualties from Chechnya in another attack at Mozdok, North Ossetia, less than two months after the airbase bus blast. The massive explosion destroyed the hospital building completely, collapsing it and killing at least 50 and injuring 82, mostly wounded or sick soldiers and medical personnel. Chechen rebels loyal to the Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
government claimed they had nothing to do with the bombing. The commander of the Mozdok military hospital, Lt. Col. Artur Arakelian, was arrested on charges of criminal negligence and failure to carry out an order.
2003 Magas bombing: September 15, 2003 - Two unidentified attackers detonated a truck bomb outside the republican FSB headquarters in Magas
Magas
Magas is the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The town was founded in 1995; it replaced Nazran as the capital of the republic in 2002. In terms of population, Magas is the smallest capital of a federal subject in Russia: -History:...
, the new capital of Ingushetia, killing three other people and injuring 29. The building was only slightly damaged and the devastation was limited mostly to its parking lot.
2008 Vedeno bombing: August 30, 2008 - A pair of suicide bombers in a car attacked perimeter of a base of Internal Troops
Internal Troops
The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs ; alternatively translated as "Interior " is a paramilitary gendarmerie-like force in the now-defunct Soviet Union and its successor countries, particularly, in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan...
at Vedeno
Vedeno
Vedeno is a rural locality in the Chechen Republic, Russia, located some southeast of Grozny. It is the administrative center of Vedensky District. Population: 11,512 ;...
, killing at least one paramilitary soldier and injuring 11 more.
May 2009 Grozny bombing: May 15, 2009 - An elderly man detonated a bomb after unsuccessfully trying to get into the Interior Ministry in Grozny, killing two policemen at the security gate and injuring at least five other people. A taxi driver who had dropped him there was gunned down by the police and then declared to be an accomplice of the attacker; the first reports said he was a civilian killed in the blast. That was the first suicide bombing in Grozny since 2003.
June 2009 Nazran bombing: June 23, 2009 - Ingush President Yunus-bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov is the current president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev on 30 October 2008...
was critically injured in a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade that wrecked his armoured Mercedes car. His brother, who served as his head of security, was also injured, and his driver and a bodyguard were killed. Police said they identified the bomber as an Ingush woman Pyatimat Mutaliyeva.
July 2009 Grozny bombing: July 26, 2009 - A suicide belt attack by 21-year old Rustam Mukhadiyev (Mukhadiev) outside the Grozny theatre and concert hall killed at least six people, including four high-ranking police officers (one of them sent to Chechnya from the republic of Adygea), and injured up to 10. The possible target of the attack may have been Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov is the President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel.Ramzan is a son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007 Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post...
, who later accused the young Islamic rebel scholar Said Buryatsky (born as Alexander Tikhomirov) of an attempt to assassinate him. The two civilians killed in the attack were said to be from Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the first foreigners to have died in North Caucasus suicide attacks.
August 2009 Nazran bombing
2009 Nazran bombing
The 2009 Nazran bombing occurred on 17 August 2009, when a suicide car bomber attacked police headquarters in Nazran, the largest city of the Republic of Ingushetia. At least 25 people were killed and 164 injured...
: August 17, 2009 - A filmed suicide car bomb attack against the police headquarters in Nazran killed at least 25 and injured about 138 people, including civilians, and destroyed the main police station in the republic's largest city. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
sacked the Ingush police chief, while the Ingush President Yevkurov accused Britain, the United States and Israel as well as Islamic militants. The rebels did not reveal the bomber's identity, allegedly out of fear of reprisals against his family, but the preparation of the bombing was claimed by a young Russian, Buryat
Buryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
Islamist ideologist Sheikh Buryatsky (Alexander Tikhomirov), at first widely presumed to be the man who had carried out the attack.
August 2009 Chechnya bombings: August 21–25, 2009 - Two suicide bombers riding bicycles staged an apparently coordinated pair of attacks against the Chechen police in Grozny, killing at least four officers and injuring a civilian woman, according to police officials. The use of bicycles would represent a new tactic for the insurgents. Four days later, four more policemen were killed and another one and two civilians injured in a suicide attack at a car wash in the village of Mesker-Yurt, according to the police.
2009 Makhachkala bombing: September 1, 2009 - In the reportedly first suicide attack in the Russian republic of Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, a federal customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
officer was killed and 14 people (including five police officers and four civilians) injured in the regional capital, Makhachkala
Makhachkala
-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...
, as a result of a car bomb, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry's office in Dagestan said.
September 2009 Grozny bombing: September 16, 2009 - A female suicide bomber attacked a traffic police car at the crossroads of the Peace and Putin Avenues in the center of Grozny, killing at least one policeman and injuring at least six other people, according to a Chechen police spokesman.
December 2009 Nazran suicide bombing: December 17, 2009 - A suicide bomber blew himself up with a car bomb at a police station in Ingushetia, killing himself and injuring 23 others. It was reported that three children were among the injured. The car reportedly had a license plate from nearby Chechnya.
January 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: January 6, 2010 - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the gates of the base Battalion DPS. The bomb reportedly detonated prematurely as local police were suspicious of a vehicle trying to enter the gates to the base and rammed it. The vehicle exploded. At least six people were killed in this bombing and another 14 others were injured.
2010 Kizlyar bombings
2010 Kizlyar bombings
The 2010 Kizlyar bombings were double suicide attacks that occurred on March 31, 2010 in Kizlyar, in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan. 12 people were killed and another 18 injured.-Background:...
: March 31, 2010 - In Kizlyar
Kizlyar
Kizlyar is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala. Population: 30,000 ....
, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, two suicide bomb blasts resulted in the deaths of at least 12 people, including the local police chief for the area. It is known that the second suicide bomber had been dressed as a policeman, and it has been reported that another 29 were wounded in these blasts. The first suicide bomber detonated his car near the buildings of the Interior Ministry. The second bomber apparently struck as a team of investigators were working at the scene of the first explosion.
April 2010 Karabulak suicide bombing: April 5, 2010 - Two blasts occurred near to a police station in Karabulak
Karabulak, Republic of Ingushetia
Karabulak is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, located on the Sunzha River , north of the republic's capital Magas. Population: The Cossack stanitsa of Karabulakskaya was founded in the 19th century...
, Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
. It was reported that at least two police officers were killed and another 13 injured. At least one of these blasts was carried out by a suicide bomber. The second explosion was allegedly caused by a car nearby that had presumably been mined by the suicide bomber, who had arrived in the vehicle.
April 2010 Ingushetia suicide attack: April 9, 2010 - A female suicide bomber blew herself up after shooting dead a police officer in the village of Ekazhevo within the republic of Ingushetia.
April 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: April 29, 2010 - In Makhachkala
Makhachkala
-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...
, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, a suicide bomber set off a car-bomb at a police checkpoint after being stopped for an inspection. Three police officers were killed and another 16 were injured.
June 2010 Grozny suicide bombing: June 30, 2010 - In Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
, Chechnya, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a document check in the centre of the capital city. The suicide bomber was killed and at least 10 others were apparently injured, including at least four police officers and six civilians.
August 2010 Prigorodny suicide bombing: August 17, 2010 - In the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia, a suicide bomber blew himself up after an identification check at a police checkpoint between the borders of the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia. It was later reported that the suicide bomber and at least two police officers died. At least three others were apparently injured.
September 2010 Buinaksk suicide bombing: September 5, 2010 - A suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the gates of a military base near Buinaksk, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
. It was reported that at least five Russian soldiers were killed and that around 39 others were injured. A secondary IED
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
explosion apparently blew up as investigators were traveling to the scene of the first bombing. However, there were no reported casualties.
September 2010 Makhachkala suicide bombing: September 24, 2010 - In Makhachkala
Makhachkala
-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...
, the capital city of Dagestan, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a police cordon. At least two police officers were killed and another 44 others were injured, some critically.
October 2010 Grozny attack: October 19, 2010 – Three gunman attacked a parliament building in Grozny, killing three and injuring another 17. All three blew themselves up when police reached them.
October 2010 Khasavyurt suicide bombing: October 23, 2010 - In Khasavyurt
Khasavyurt
Khasavyurt is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. Population: It was founded in 1846 and granted town status in 1931. The main local industries are food processing, brick making and garment making....
, Dagestan, a suicide car-bomber attempted to drive his vehicle into a police station within the city, then blew himself up. At least one police officer was killed and 12 others were apparently injured.
February 2011 Gubden suicide bombings: February 15, 2011 - In the village of Gubden, Dagestan, it was reported that two suicide bomb explosions occurred, one of which involved a female and the other a car-bomber, both targeting a Russian security checkpoint. At least three police officers were killed and more than 25 others injured.
Attacks against Russian civilians
2003 Tushino bombing: July 5, 2003 - According to the official version, 20-year-old Chechen woman Zulikhan Elikhadzhiyeva blew herself up outside a rock festival at the TushinoTushino
Tushino is a former village and town to the north of Moscow, which has been part of the city's area since 1960. Between 1939 and 1960, Tushino was classed as a separate town. The Skhodnya River flows across the southern part of Tushino....
airfield near Moscow; her bomb did not detonate as expected. 15 minutes later, only a few meters from where Zulikhan blew herself up, 26-six-year-old Zinaida Aliyeva detonated her explosives. The attack killed 11 people on the spot, while at least 60 people were injured and four of them later died in hospital. There was no claim of responsibility from the Chechen rebels and some commentators speculated the incident might have been orchestrated by Russian intelligence agents.
2003 Stavropol train bombing
2003 Stavropol train bombing
The 2003 Stavropol train bombing was a suicide bomber blast which ripped through the commuter train in Stavropol Krai, Russia going from Kislovodsk to Mineralnye Vody as it was leaving Yessentuki on December 5, 2003. The explosion killed at least 46 people and injured more than 170.The rebel...
: December 5, 2003 - A shrapnel
Fragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
-filled bomb, believed to have been strapped to a lone male suicide attacker, ripped apart a commuter train near Chechnya, killing 46 people and injuring nearly 200. The explosion occurred during a busy morning rush hour when the train was loaded with many students and workers; it ripped the side of the train open as it approached a station near the town of Yessentuki in Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: -Geography:Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major...
. The attacks occurred one day after Russia’s State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
elections.
2003 Red Square bombing: December 10, 2003 - Only five days later, a blast occurred at Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
in the very center of Moscow, as Khadishat Mangeriyeva (widow of separatist field commander Ruslan Mangeriyev) set off a suicide belt packed with ball bearings near the Kremlin and State Duma, killing six people and injuring 44. Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for organising both of the December 2003 attacks, as well as the August aircraft bombings.
February 2004 Moscow metro bombing
February 2004 Moscow metro bombing
The February 2004 Moscow metro bombing occurred on 6 February 2004 when a male suicide bomber killed 41 people near Avtozavodskaya subway station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line in Moscow...
: February 6, 2004 - A bomb ripped through a Moscow metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
car during rush hour
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
morning near the Avtozavodskaya subway station in Moscow, killing at least 40 people and injuring 134. This time, Basayev denied responsibility for the bombing. A previously unknown Chechen terrorist group claimed it launched the attack to mark the fourth anniversary of the February 2000 Novye Aldi massacre
Novye Aldi massacre
The Novye Aldi massacre was a notorious crime in which Russian federal forces summarily executed dozens of people in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in the course of a "mopping-up" operation conducted there on February 5, 2000, soon after the end of the battle for the city...
in Chechnya.
2004 aircraft bombings
Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004
The Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004 were terrorist attacks on two domestic Russian passenger aircraft at around 23:00 on August 24, 2004. Both planes had flown out of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow....
: August 24, 2004 - Two Russian airliner
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
s crashed nearly simultaneously in the Tula
Tula Oblast
Tula Oblast is a federal subject of Russia with its present borders formed on September 26, 1937. Its administrative center is the city of Tula. The oblast has an area of and a population of 1,553,874...
and Rostov
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of and a population of making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia...
regions of Russia, killing a total of 90 people. Two Chechen women, Amanta Nagayeva (30) and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova (37), have been identified as the perpetrators of the attack.
August 2004 Moscow metro bombing
August 2004 Moscow metro bombing
The August 2004 Moscow metro bombing took place in the morning on August 31, 2004, when a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside Rizhskaya metro station, killing at least 10 people and wounding 50....
: August 31, 2004 - 29-year old Roza Nagayeva (sister of Amanat Nagayeva) apparently panicked and prematurely detonated explosives before entering the Rizhskaya metro station in the Russian capital. Ten other people were killed (including her apparent handler, ethnic Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Islamic militant Nikolai Kipkeyev) and about 30 injured in the blast.
2008 Vladikavkaz bombing
2008 Vladikavkaz bombing
The 2008 Vladikavkaz bombing took place on a routed taxicab, which was unloading passengers at a market in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Russia on November 6, 2008 killing 12 and injuring 41. The bombing was committed by female suicide bomber.-See also:...
: November 6, 2008 - A suspected female suicide bomber exiting a minibus killed at least 11 people and injured as many as 40 others at a taxi-van stop next to the central market in Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
, capital of North Ossetia, officials said. No claim of responsibility was issued.
2010 Moscow Metro bombings
2010 Moscow Metro bombings
The 2010 Moscow Metro bombings were suicide bombings carried out by two womenduring the morning rush hour of March 29, 2010, at two stations of the Moscow Metro , with roughly 40 minutes interval between...
: March 28, 2010 - Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in Moscow's subway system as it was packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 40 and wounding more than 75.
2010 Vladikavkaz bombing
2010 Vladikavkaz bombing
The 2010 Vladikavkaz bombing took place at the Central market in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, Russia on 9 September 2010 when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives killing at least 17 and injuring more than 160.-Background:...
: September 9, 2010 - A suicide car-bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at the Central market in the city of Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
, capital of North Ossetia. At least 17 people were killed and more than 160 others were apparently injured, according to official reports.
2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing: January 24, 2011 - A male suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the international arrivals hall of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport
Domodedovo International Airport
Moscow Domodedovo Airport or Domodedovo International Airport is an international airport located in Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia, south-southeast of the centre of Moscow...
, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 180 others. Several foreign nationals were among the fatalities.
Hostage crises
Moscow theater hostage crisisMoscow theater hostage crisis
The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the...
: October 23–26, 2002 - Among about 40 hostage takers at Dubrovka musical theater were some 20 young female militants who claimed to be wearing explosive belts. The women, between the ages of 16 to 26, were led by Zura Barayeva
Zura Barayeva
Zura Barayeva was the widow of Arbi Barayev, a notorious Chechen warlord. She was killed during the Moscow theater hostage crisis in October 2002, in which she headed a female unit.A former hostage described her:...
, widow of the Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev
Arbi Barayev
Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev , nicknamed "The Terminator", was a renegade Chechen warlord often accused of clandestine links with the Russian special services...
and also a relative of 22-year old Movsar Barayev
Movsar Barayev
Movsar Buharovich Barayev , earlier known as Suleimanov, was a Chechen and militia leader during the Second Chechen War, who led the seizure of a Moscow theater that led to the deaths of over 170 people.-Life:...
, the self-described leader of the entire group. On the third day of the crisis, Russian special forces raided the theater and all of the militants in the building were shot to death at close range, many after being subdued. None of the explosive devices detonated during the Russian assault; the bombs turned out to be mostly just dummies, and even the few real ones were not in working order.
Beslan school hostage crisis
Beslan school hostage crisis
The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...
: September 1–3, 2004 - A group of armed mostly Ingush and Chechen Islamic terrorists took more than 1,100 people (including 777 children) hostage at School Number One in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia. Some of the adult hostages were killed. On the third day, Russian security forces stormed the building. At least 334 hostages, including 186 children, died, hundreds more were injured and many were reported missing.
Failed attacks
- December 2000 – A truck bomb driven by a 16-year-old Chechen girl, Mareta Dudayeva, was stopped by gunfire as it smashed through the checkpoints and blockposts on its way to an Interior Ministry building in the Leninsky district of Grozny. Dudayeva was wounded by the guards but survived the attack.
- February 5, 2002 – 15-year-old Zarema Inarkayeva smuggled a small bomb inside of the building of Zavodsky district police station in Grozny; the bomb did not detonate properly and she was captured alive.
- July 10, 2003 – 22-year-old ethnic Ingush woman Zarema MuzhakhoyevaZarema MuzhakhoyevaZarema Muzhakhoyeva is an Ingush woman and would-be shahidka who surrendered to Moscow police on July 9, 2003, instead of blowing herself up...
was captured while exiting a café on central Moscow’s Tverskaya StreetTverskaya StreetTverskaya Street , known as Gorky Street between 1935 and 1990, is the main and probably best-known radial street of Moscow, Russia. The street runs from the central Manege Square north-west in the direction of Saint Petersburg and terminated at the Garden Ring, giving its name to Tverskoy District...
; she said she believed that she was under observation by her male handlers ("Igor" and "Andrei"), who could detonate her bomb by remote control. An FSB bomb expert was killed trying to defuse her explosive device, but Muzhikoyeva survived. In April 2004, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison despite her full cooperation with the authorities.
- July 27, 2003 – Chechen woman Mariam Tashukhadzhiyeva detonated explosives outside a police station in the outskirts of Grozny, where Ramzan Kadyrov was reviewing his paramilitary troopsKadyrovtsyKadyrovtsy also Kadyrovites, is a term used by the population of Chechnya, as well as members of the groups themselves, for former members of the paramilitary units of the former pro-Moscow President of the Chechen Republic Akhmad Kadyrov, headed by his son and the current President Ramzan...
, killing herself. The blast also injured one of guards who had stopped her and a female passerby.
- April 7, 2004 - Ingushetia's President Murat ZyazikovMurat ZyazikovMurat Magometovich Zyazikov is the former president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. He was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan. Zyazikov was a controversial politician in Ingushetia.- Political Career :...
, a former KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
general, was lightly injured by a suicide car bomb attack on his motorcade. He was saved by the armour plating of his Mercedes-BenzMercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
car; six of his bodyguards were also injured.
- January 9, 2007 – A car laden with explosives attempted to ram through a roadblock set up by OMSN forces roughly 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-west of Grozny. The driver was killed by gunfire and the passenger exited the vehicle. It is likely the occupants attempted to detonate the explosives, but were unable to; recovered evidence showed the explosives were not properly wired. The driver, Dimitri Kozletski (24), was a Ukrainian national and the young passenger, whose identity is still unknown, is reported to have fled to either Saudi Arabia or the United States.
- October 1, 2008 – A male suicide bomber attacked the motorcade of Ingush Interior Minister Musa Medov in Nazran. Medov and his bodyguards were unharmed, but five bystanders were injured by the blast.
- September 11–12, 2009 – At least three civilians and two policemen were injured (one of the civilians mortally) in a suicide car-bomb attack on a road-patrol police blockpost at the Kavkaz federal highway near Nazran in Ingushetia. The police opened fire on a van as it approached. Subsequent reports stated nine people were wounded. On the same day, Dagestani security forces detained a woman, Sakinat Saidova, suspected of planning to carry out a suicide bombing in the regional capital MakhachkalaMakhachkala-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...
. The next day, September 12, three policemen were injured in an explosion set off by a female suicide bomber near a police post in central Grozny, according to authorities.
- October 23, 2009 - Chechen security services claimed they prevented an assassination attempt on Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his (and Duma) deputy Adam DelimkhanovAdam DelimkhanovAdam Sultanovich Delimkhanov is a Chechen politician who has been member of the Russian State Duma for the United Russia party since 2007....
visiting a construction site of Akhmad Kadyrov memorial center in Grozny. Alleged Urus-Martan region rebel leader Beslan Bashtayev was shot and killed while driving a VAZVazVaz also may refer to:*Vaz , people named Vaz*VAZ Plus, a Virtual Studio Technology and DirectX plugin that simulates a subtractive synthesizer...
car, Chechen deputy interior minister Roman Edilov said. The deceased was known to be a follower of Sulim YamadayevSulim YamadayevSulim Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev was a Chechen rebel commander from the First Chechen War who had switched sides together with his brothers Dzhabrail, Badrudi, Isa and Ruslan in 1999 during the outbreak of the Second Chechen War. He was de facto commander of the Russian military Special Battalion...
(the rival of Kadyrov, who was assassinated earlier in 2009, allegedly by Delimkhanov).
- October 5, 2010 - A suicide bomber, Yerlan Usupov, opened fire at Russian security forces surrounding a private house and tried to break through the police cordon. However, Russian security forces returned fire, prematurely detonating the suicide-bomb belt that he was wearing.
Bombings by cornered militants
- February 16, 2005 - A prominent foreign fighter named Abu Zaid Al-Kuwaiti blew up himself after being surrounded by Russian special forces in his safe house in Ingushetia, the FSB said.
- February 10, 2009 - A group of about four militants allegedly preparing to assassinate the President of Ingushetia blew up the building they were holed in during a siege/firefight in Magas, killing at least four members of Murmansk OblastMurmansk OblastMurmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk.-Geography:...
OMON and injuring as many as 24 others, including three civilians. The blast was powerful enough to overturn an armoured vehicle and several trucks. Unofficial reports put the police death toll at 15.
- August 28, 2009 - Three police officers and three civilians were injured when two insurgents wounded in a firefight blew themselves up in the Chechen town of Shali, a police spokesperson said.
- October 21, 2009 - Four policemen and a passerby were injured by a suicide blast in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny when police tried to detain 17-year old Zaurbek Khashumov, Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said.
- October 23, 2009 - Five people, including a policeman and two militants, were killed during a special operation by Chechen police against a suspected suicide cell in Grozny. According to Interior Minister Alkhanov, who was at the scene of the operation, two women in the house (20-year-old Eva Gaisumova and 21-year-old Khava Khasaeva) blew themselves up.
- October 27–29, 2009 - A Chechen militant identified as 24-year old Ibrahim Kasumov blew himself up on one of Grozny's main squares with a hand grenade, killing one police officer and injuring another policeman during an attempt to detain him, Interior Minister Alkhanov said. Two days later on October 29, another militant, Kureysh Duguyev, 19, also blew himself up after being surrounded by police in the Lenin district of Grozny, but with no other causalties, Alkhanov said.
External links
- Timeline: Bombs linked to Chechnya, CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, December 5, 2003 - A Cult of Reluctant Killers, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, February 4, 2004 - Russia's suicide bomb nightmare, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, February 6, 2004 - Chechnya’s Suicide Bombers: Desperate, Devout, or Deceived?, American Committee for Peace in ChechnyaAmerican Committee for Peace in ChechnyaFounded in 1999, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya is the only private, non-governmental organization in North America exclusively dedicated to promoting the peaceful resolution of the Second Chechen war...
, September 16, 2004 - From dismal Chechnya, women turn to bombs, China DailyChina DailyThe China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
, September 10, 2004 - Russia: Nord-Ost Anniversary Recalls Ascent Of Female Suicide Bomber, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 27, 2006
- CHECHEN SUICIDE BOMBERS, Foreign Military Studies OfficeForeign Military Studies OfficeThe Foreign Military Studies Office, or FMSO, is a research and analysis center for the United States Army that is part of the United States Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth. It manages the Joint Reserve Intelligence Center there.-Mission:...
, 2007 - The age of the human bomb, Prague WatchdogPrague WatchdogPrague Watchdog was an English, Czech and Russian-language Prague-based on-line service that collected and disseminated information on the crisis in Chechnya and reporting on the conflict in the North Caucasus, focusing on human rights, humanitarian situation, media access and coverage, and the...
, July 27, 2009