Country report on terrorism for Russia - 2004

Following are North Caucasus related excerpts from the report on Russia from the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2004.

Russia pursued several major domestic and global counterterrorism initiatives in 2004, expanding its role in the global war on terrorism. Russia's leadership and public assigned increasing importance to counterterrorism following a series of deadly terrorist attacks in 2004. Separatist terrorists based in the North Caucasus were responsible for the murder of hundreds of Russian citizens. There is evidence of a foreign terrorist presence in Chechnya and of international financial ties with Chechen groups, although much of the actual terrorist activity in the region and elsewhere in Russia is homegrown and linked to the Chechen separatist movement.

Examples of noteworthy law enforcement and judicial actions undertaken by Russia in 2004 include: Zarema Muzhikhoyeva, a failed Chechen suicide bomber, was convicted of terrorism by a Moscow court in April and sentenced to 20 years in prison. In November, Russian law enforcement officials arrested Alisher Usmanov, whom the Russian authorities allege was the leader of a terrorist cell. Usmanov was reportedly carrying explosives and al- Qa'ida training manuals at the time of his arrest. Abdulla Aliyev, an aide to Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, was convicted of involvement in Basayev's 1999 incursion into Dagestan after returning to Dagestan from self-imposed exile in Turkey and confessing to prosecutors. He was given an eight-year suspended sentence.

Major terrorist acts perpetrated against Russia during 2004 included, in chronological order:

On February 6, suicide bombers blew up a Moscow subway train, killing at least 41 and wounding more than 100.

On April 6, a suicide bomber tried to assassinate Ingush President Murat Zyazikov by ramming an explosive-laden vehicle into Zyazikov's motorcade. The blast wounded four of Zyazikov's bodyguards and two civilians. Zyazikov was lightly wounded.

On May 9, Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov was assassinated during Victory Day celebrations in a Grozny stadium.

On June 22, armed militants seized a Ministry of Interior building in Ingushetia, killing at least 92 people.

On August 24, suicide bombers simultaneously brought down two Russian airliners, killing 88 passengers and crew.

On August 31, a female suicide bomber killed at least eight persons and wounded more than 50 others when she detonated explosives outside a Moscow subway station.

September 1-3, terrorists seized approximately 1,200 hostages, more than half children, at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. Two days later, an explosion inside the gymnasium where hostages were held sparked a fierce gun battle between terrorists and security forces. According to official figures, 331 people were killed, 172 of them children, though many believe the actual number of deaths was higher. Hundreds of others were injured.