I am stunned to learn that those plane crashes were not coincidences:
DUBAI (Reuters) An Islamist group has claimed that it hijacked two Russian planes that crashed this week, killing at least 89 people, and threatened more attacks, according to an Internet statement posted on Friday.
And from AP:
Traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of one of two airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously earlier this week, the Federal Security Service said Friday, a day after a top official acknowledged that terrorism was the most likely cause of the crashes.
Readers -
While Robert is on travel, you can also see some of the latest anti-terrorist and anti-jihad news at either my news site:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/
or my web site which promotes Jihad Watch and related other Web links for your information.
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/
Jeffrey Imm
UnitedStatesAction.com
MORE ON THE RUSSIA JET STORY
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unitedstatesaction/message/8193
2004-0827: Explosives Found in Russian Jet Wreckage; Suspects Identified; Chechen Muslims Claim Responsibility
Aug 27, 4:28 AM EDT
Explosives Found in Russian Jet Wreckage
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/R/RUSSIA_PLANE_CRASH?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
MOSCOW (AP) -- Traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of one of two airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously earlier this week, the Federal Security Service said Friday, a day after a top official acknowledged that terrorism was the most likely cause of the crashes.
A duty officer at the agency, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, confirmed reports on Russian news agencies that cited agency spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko as saying that "preliminary analysis indicates it was hexogen."
The announcement came several hours after a Web site known for militant Muslim published a claim of responsibility for the twin crashes, connecting the action to Russia's fight against separatists in Chechnya.
The Russian news reports said the explosive traces were found in the wreckage of a Tu-154 that was one of two planes that crashed Tuesday night, killing at least 89 people.
Although the planes disappeared from radar screens within minutes of each other after taking off from the same airport, Moscow's Domodedovo, Russian officials had held back from connecting them to terrorism, citing bad fuel and human error as other possible causes.
The Russian presidential envoy for the region that includes Chechnya, Vladimir Yakovlev, however, conceded Thursday that terrorism was seen as the most likely cause.
The crashes took place just five days before presidential elections were to be held in Chechnya, where rebels and Russian forces have been fighting for nearly five years. Officials had warned of concern that separatists could try to commit attacks ahead of the elections, which are to fill the post of the late Kremlin-backed Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated by a bomb in May.
Russian officials have repeatedly contended that the rebels who have been fighting Russian forces in Chechnya for nearly five years receive help from foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
Friday's claim of responsibility did not refer to al-Qaida, but a group called "the Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida" claimed responsibility for last month's attempt to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister-designate.
A spokesman for the Federal Security Service said he could not immediately comment on the Web site's statement.
The statement did not give details on how the alleged attacks on the Russian planes occurred.
"Our mujahedeen, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness," the statement said.
It was not clear whether the statement claimed that Chechens themselves staged attacks on the planes.
Chechen rebels and their supporters are blamed for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks in Chechnya and the rest of Russia over the past several years, including last year's suicide bombings of an outdoor rock concert in Moscow and another outside a hotel near Red Square.
Any explanation other than terrorism "seems to be purely impossible," independent aviation expert Oleg Panteleyev said Thursday.
There also was doubt among ordinary Russians on whether they could count on their government to be open with them.
"I never trust what the authorities are saying, but in this case, I don't know - it could have been an accident or a terrorist act," said Yevgeny Skepner, a 37-year-old computer programmer.
Many Russians have ingrained doubts about the government's candor after the confused and contradictory reports on the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in 2000 and the still-murky 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels.
==============================================
Web Site Posts Claim for Russian Jet Crashes
Friday, August 27, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,130302,00.html
CAIRO, Egypt — A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment Friday.
The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed "the Islambouli Brigades." A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified.
Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday's plane crashes, which killed 89 people.
"We in the Islambouli Brigades announce that our holy warriors managed to hijack two Russian planes and were crowned with success though they faced problems at the beginning," the statement said without elaborating on the problems.
Friday's statement said five mujahedeen (Islamic fighters) were on board each plane and their wills will be published soon.
The statement did not explain how the hijackers boarded the planes, how they downed them or give any other details.
"Russia's slaughtering of Muslims is continuing and will only stop when a bloody war is launched," the statement said. "Our mujahedeen, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow, which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave of to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness."
A July 31 Web statement signed the "Islambouli Brigades of Al Qaeda" claimed responsibility for the attempt to assassinate Shaukat Aziz (search), Pakistan's prime minister-designate. Friday's claim did not refer to Al Qaeda, the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden.
Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
==============================================
Russia crashes: Explosives found
Suspects identified, FSB says
Friday, August 27, 2004 Posted: 4:53 AM EDT (0853 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/27/russia.planecrash/index.html
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of one of the two Russian passenger jets that crashed Tuesday, killing 89 people aboard both aircraft, the Federal Security Service tells CNN.
Without elaborating, the FSB -- the country's top intelligence agency -- also says it has identified some suspects.
Based on the findings, the FSB says it believes terrorism is to blame for the crash of the Siberian Airlines Tupolev 154, bound for the Black Sea resort of Sochi, killing all 46 on board.
Siberia Airlines said on its Web site that its air traffic control center notified it that the Tu-154 had activated a hijack alert.
The two planes crashed within minutes of each other Tuesday night after departing Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing all aboard.
According to Russian media reports quoting security sources and Chechnya's interior minister, a Chechen woman was the last passenger to board the Siberian Airlines plane and had purchased her ticket an hour before the flight departed.
The body of the 27-year-old Grozny resident is the only one that has not been claimed by family members, according to the media reports.
Through a spokesman, Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has denied any involvement in the plane crashes.
The crashes also took place ahead of a regional election in the rebellious southern territory of Chechnya, where Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas for the past five years.
Chechen separatists have been blamed for numerous bombings and other attacks in Russia in recent years, including the seizure of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theater that ended with more than 100 hostages dead.
Russian media report the tentative analysis of the Siberia Airlines wreckage shows the presence of hexagene, an element used by Chechens in past attacks.
The first plane, a Volga-Avia Express Tupolev 134, was en route to Volgograd when disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (2:56 p.m. ET) Tuesday. Its wreckage was found about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Moscow near Tula, according to Russia's Emergency Ministry.
The Siberian Tu-154 was about 100 miles (160 km) from Rostov-on-Don when it dropped off radar screens at 10:59 p.m., the state news agency Novosti reported. Russian officials said the crash site spread over a 25 mile (40 km) radius.
The two crash sites were about 450 miles (725 km) apart.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had been vacation in Sochi when the planes crashed and returned to Moscow on Wednesday.
==============================================
26.08.2004 07:17:00 GMT
Investigators do not rule out any cause of Russian plane crashes
http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Rus&pg=0&id=5750183&req=
Moscow. (Interfax-AVN) - Authorities have not yet ruled out any possible causes for the simultaneous crashes of two passenger aircraft on Tuesday, including sabotage, terrorism, technical failures or human error, Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told a conference chaired by President Vladimir Putting in the Kremlin on Wednesday.
Two investigating teams headed by his deputies have been set up, he said.
The analysis of flight recorder evidence may have started, Ustinov said.
==============================================
Russian Official: Terror Suspected in Crashes
Thursday, August 26, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,130103,00.html
MOSCOW — A top Russian official acknowledged Thursday what many citizens already suspected -- that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that "Russia now has a Sept. 11."
A day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory "all the same remains terrorism."
Yakovlev said the planes' flight recorders provide no clues to the disaster. He said both boxes had shut off abruptly without any indication of trouble, a sign U.S. aviation experts said was strong evidence of explosions.
Also, Transport Minister Igor Levitin confirmed Sibir airlines' report that its crew activated an emergency signal shortly before the plane disappeared from radar. Visiting the crash site, however, he said that details were slim because "no verbal confirmation from the crew was received" saying what the problem was
Officials previously said there was no indication of trouble from a Volga-Aviaexpress airliner that also crashed late Tuesday, although people on the ground reported hearing a series of explosions.
Russian media also raised questions about a possible link between the crashes and an explosion a few hours earlier at a bus stop on a road leading to Domodedovo airport, where the two doomed planes took off. Without citing evidence, the reports suggested the blast, which wounded four people, might have been an effort to distract attention.
Suspicions of terrorism came after warnings from officials that separatists might plan attacks before an election this Sunday in Chechnya (search) to replace the war-torn region's assassinated pro-Kremlin president. The rebels have made attacks in Moscow and other cities, hijacked planes outside Russia and allegedly staged suicide bombings.
"I am inclined to think that it is a terrorist act, because there are too many coincidences," said Ruben Suryaninov, an elderly retiree. "What needs to happen so that two planes going from the same airport would bang at the same moment?"
"It's too suspicious," agreed Natalia Kozhelupova, a physicist who was out on a national day of mourning for the 89 people killed in the crashes. Russia's tricolor flag flew at half-staff and television canceled entertainment programs.
Despite Yakovlev's statement about terrorism, the government was still officially investigating all possibilities -- bombs, hijackers, mechanical failure, bad fuel and human error. Officials said no evidence had been found pointing to terrorism, and no one has claimed to have caused the crashes.
The government had hoped the jetliners' flight data recorders would shed some light, but Yakovlev told state-run First Channel that experts found the boxes in both planes shut off before indicating any problems.
Yakovlev, the president's envoy for southern Russia, where one of the planes crashed, said the recorders "turned off immediately" -- an indication "that something happened very fast."
Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said a sudden stoppage of a plane's two recorders indicates that its electrical system was cut. "An explosion could interrupt electrical power," he said, adding that it was extremely unlikely that another problem would cause four boxes in two planes to quit abruptly.
If something went wrong with a plane's mechanical or electrical systems, "more protracted data would show up," Waldock said. The cockpit voice recorder would pick up pilots' conversations as they dealt with the problem, while the flight data recorder would note such information as altitude, air speed, heading and vertical acceleration.
Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, also said the abrupt shutoffs mostly likely point to explosions. But raised the possibility that the recorders weren't working properly.
"Given that Russian regional aviation has never been known for its maintenance standards, it would not surprise me that the FDRs and CVRs were not working correctly, if at all," Goelz said.
The planes -- a Sibir Tu-154 with 46 aboard and a Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134 with 43 people -- disappeared from radar almost simultaneously around 11 p.m. Tuesday. The Tu-134 was headed to the southern city of Volgograd and the other plane to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin (search) was vacationing. They had taken off about 40 minutes apart.
A government commission appointed to investigate traveled Thursday to the site where the Tu-134 crashed, about 120 miles south of Moscow. Emergency crews had already completed their work there, but others continued to check the wreckage of the Tu-154 a few hundred miles south.
"There is still no clear-cut concept of what occurred, because the procedure of deciphering the data recorders will be conducted more than once," Levitin, the transport minister and head of the commission, was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.
Oleg Panteleyev, an independent aviation expert in Russia, said that just because no clear evidence of terrorism had been found, didn't mean that wasn't the cause.
Any other explanation "seems to be purely impossible," he told The Associated Press. "But then again, absolutely incredible things can happen in life."
Many ordinary Russians have ingrained doubts about the government's candor after the confused and contradictory reports on the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in 2000 and the still-murky 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels.
"I never trust what the authorities are saying, but in this case, I don't know -- it could have been an accident or a terrorist act," said Yevgeny Skepner, a 37-year-old computer programmer.
Still, Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst who is often critical of the government, said Moscow would have nothing to gain in covering up a terror attack.
"For the companies, the aviation industry, society and Russia as a whole, it would be better ... because otherwise it means that things are really bad here -- we have bad planes that crash to the ground one after another," he said. "The fact that it is not being called a terrorist act, means they have no such evidence ... because hiding a terrorist act is impossible."
Panteleyev disagreed. "To miss such a major terrorist act for the security services means to acknowledge their impotence," he said.
A tragedy that might have been worse : Hijackers were trying to fly at least one of the planes to
kill Putin on vacation at Black Sea Resort... There is an unconfirmed story that one of the planes was shot down by Russian Military fighters
but in tradition of old Soviet Bloc, authorities
aren't saying much.
Rest in peace the victims and punishing the gilties, now, is the job,
If this all proves to be true, it will only confirm what I thought the moment I heard of this (and, the moment I heard over the radio of an airplane hitting the WTC, 3 years ago). Not a coincidence, but islamofascists.
OT, but here's one for KeithJoy: his like-minded people in action:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14836
And that Is a good question, Keith: why Does Kerry keep a domestic terrorist on his staff? And how can we expect Kerry to protect the country from foreign terrorists when he has ties to terrorist groups?
You know it baffles the mind why, Russia, with its experiences with Chechnya and Muslims in that region, and now this incident, so eagerly provides Nuclear technology and equipment to the Likes of Iran? The world just seems to have gone mad with a "wish to die"..
You have a point Joe Banana, that the Russians should perhaps know better, but when it comes to decision making, for the governing Russian politicians power, money and influence is more important. Russia has always tried to woo the Arab countries to try to counterbalance the US. Unfortunately I think a lot of Russian politicians are still too corrupt to actually act for the people, they’d rather act for themselves. I think that most of them doesn’t realise the dangers of Muslim extremism, and even if some do, they are busy lining their pockets while they can. They are the same as the smoker who says that yes I know that smoking kills 1 out if 3 smokers, but surely I won’t be me, or not now anyway; the politicians in Russia must think that yes terrorism kills many innocent people, but surely it won’t be us, not now anyway.
Right on Gloria....
They are no better than the drug lords.....they could not give two stuffs about any one else but themselves.....except this client (Islam) one will come back to claim them as well in due time......
The latest report I read was that a woman purchased a ticket within one hour befor take-off,also nobody has come forward to claim the two females that were blown to pieces from an explotion. CAIR Canada is adamant about Canadian Customs allowing Muslim women to pass security without being checked or have to remove the Hijab. This attempt to get in Canada may have been a trial-run for Islamists to get on USA bound flights from Canada. Previuosly in a post I pointed out that Muslim men will dress like females to hide the C4 belt and wear a Burqa to
cover the facial features,it is too late to focus on preventing Muslims from having their feelings hurt,either they work with us to stop the Islamists or they be held responsible for thier in-action to protect non-Muslims.
For the record,the Muslim females entering Canada at a Airport in Quebec were not Canadian citizens,they were visitors and should not have
been covered by the Charter of Rights.
This insane ruling by our Prime Minister means any Burqa or Hijab wearing person anywhere in the world,can board a plane to the USA via Canada and be exempt from personal body searches.
I tired of the endless whine from CAIR and their ilk,it's nice that there're willing to take the risk with my life but I'd rather be careful today
than dead tomorrow.
Seems to me that spain is running up an incredibly large debt to the world. We have them to thank for this tactic of utilizing terrorist acts to influence elections. Cowardice & impersonating an ostrich are no way to fight a war!
I hope that the Russian response is to realize that their involvement in this war extends far beyond chechnya & to join in the destruction of islam.
Joe Bananas is absolutely correct - Moscow has a death wish, and damn them for endangering everyone else.
I suppose that those of us with upcoming elections should prepare ourselves for similar mass murder by the Psychopaths of Islam. Australia and the US, for instance. Both countries have an almost even split between the two major parties. A terrorist attack could sway voters either way. I'm hoping the right way, not left, for I wouldn't trust the left with issues like terrorism. They'd be too busy letting them in and setting them free in our society, and forbidding us to say anything against it.
I'm quite nervous about this.