Death toll climbs to 56 in the Znamenskoye explosionRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus - The number of casualties in Monday’s truck bombing in the town of Znamenskoye rose to 56 today. A total of 284 people were injured, 57 quite seriously. Workers from the Emergencies Ministry of the Chechen Republic and their colleagues from neighboring republics worked through the night to find survivors. But according to available information, no one is any longer buried under the ruins. An Interior Ministry source said a truck laden with explosives arrived from the village of Ishchorskaya in the Naurski district. Fragments containing serial numbers have been found that should make it possible to identify the owner of the vehicle, and hopefully explain how it managed to get through all the military checkpoints. So far, investigators discovered there were three people in the truck, one man and two women. Meanwhile, local authorities declared three days of mourning in Chechnya for the victims of the tragedy.
Nevertheless, Chechen guerillas continue to intensify their activities. Today, near the village of Duba-Yurt, a car filled with Russian soldiers drove over a mine and exploded, killing three soldiers instantly and injuring four others. On Monday, near this same place, Chechen resistance fighters blew up a Russian armored personnel carrier; two soldiers died in the blast. And on Sunday, again near that same village, another explosion occurred, only this time no one was killed or injured.
(T/E) |
