10:43, 25 July 2005

Woman killed in train blast

Another terrorist act was committed in Dagestan yesterday, on 24 July. This time, a commuter train running between Khasavyurt and Makhachkala was blown up several kilometres east of Khasavyurt. The explosion occurred at 5.30 am MSK under the first carriage of the train in the span between Khasavyurt and Kizil-Yurt near Bairam, 10 km from Khasavyurt, the Khasavyurt District Internal Affairs Division told Caucasian Knot.

A resident of Khasavyurt, b. 1963, died on the way to hospital. Six people suffered, according to Akhmed Magomayev, deputy chief of the Makhachkala Department of Internal Affairs in Transport.

Experts say the terrorists counted the explosion would occur under the central part of the carriage to hit as many people in the carriage as possible.

There were not too many people in this first train on a weekend day. At another time, victims might have numbered tens, if not hundreds, Caucasian Knot's correspondent reports.

In conversations with Caucasian Knot law enforcement agents expressed concerns that attackers shifted their activities from city streets to the railway which is hard to control over its entire length. This is already the third terrorist act in Dagestan committed on the railway recently.