‘MK’ was in the terrorists’ lair to find out why the New Year’s Eve attack failed

Дом, где взорвалась шахидка в новогоднюю ночь

In mid-December, law enforcement agencies in Moscow received a security alert about a possible terrorist attack. Rank and file policemen treated it fairly lightly: the FSB puts out such warnings fairly regularly. “We certainly pay attention to them,” commented one guardian of the public order. “But to ourselves we jokingly recall the tale of the boy who cried wolf. It’s strange that immediately after the terrorist attack the leaders began to claim there wasn’t any warning. That’s pretty stupid.”

According to the security alert, an international gang was preparing to carry out bombings in the capital. Supposedly one of the groups consisted of three women and a man of Chechen nationality. They had rented an apartment in a city about 30–40 km from Moscow, and then rented another house on Profsoyuznaya Street, where they were constructing explosive devices. Profsoyuznaya was torn apart, but all that was found was a mini-workshop for converting gas pistols to accept live ammo.

The last address of the terrorists was in a park in Kuzminki. It was there that the first blast took place.

A few hours before the New Year’s festivities, a large explosion rang out in a rifle and shotgun shooting range in the park. A bomb had gone off in a guesthouse, and the shock wave almost completely destroyed the structure and set it on fire. Witnesses saw the burning cottage and noted a man and woman fleeing on foot down Golovachev Street.

“The suicide bomber’s belt went off, and all that remained was her head,” one of the guardians of law and order who visited the scene told ‘MK’. This is probably a bit exaggerated: forensic experts state that the suicide bomber’s body was brought to them in satisfactory condition. “She died from the explosion, but all her body parts, and her face, are intact. This means that the explosion took place some distance from her.”

At the morgue the dead body was recorded as 24-year-old Zeynat Suyunova. That was the name used to rent the cottage where blast occurred.

Security services quite quickly found out that Suyunova was still alive, and that she was the woman seen fleeing the cottage immediately after the explosion.

Databases show that Zeynat Suyunova is listed as the wife of a member of the Caucasus criminal underground. Her husband was arrested in September of 2010 and is now in prison in Pyatigorsk. Suyunova was born in July of 1986 in the Shelkovsk district of what was the Chechen-Ingush SSR, and in 1993 she moved with her family to a permanent residence in the Stavropol region. Suyunova is Kumyk by nationality (belonging to the indigenous population of Dagestan — ed), and has never lived in Chechnya. According to Mahmud Metkeb, administrator of her village, a few years ago Zeynat and her younger sister left to pursue higher education. Zeynat started studying to be a pharmacist at the Pyatigorsk State Pharmaceutical Academy, and her sister studied economics in Stavropol, and since then the sisters have not been seen in their hometown. Zeynat’s family is prosperous — her mother works as a physical therapist in an outpatient clinic, and her father is at home on disability.

Later there were reports that Suyunova was arrested on a train in Volgograd on January 5th. In the course of investigating her, we found out some details. In particular, the security services learned that Zeynat was in charge of a suicide bomber, for whom she rented a cottage in Kuzminki. The suicide bomber was to arrive at Manege Square late in the evening of December 31st. At first, according to security services, the selected target was Red Square, but then the idea of a suicide bombing in the heart of Moscow was cancelled: the organizers concluded that passing through the police cordons to Spassky tower would be almost impossible. Manege became the target largely due its increased “popularity” over the last month: because of the murder of Spartak soccer fan and the ensuing riot, Manege Square became famous throughout the world.

The terror attack, however, fell though due to an absurd coincidence. Apparently a disposable cell phone had been purchased for the suicide bomber and it was supposed to only receive text messages, probably from Suyunova. Such a text was to cause the explosive device to go off, but what the terrorist did not take into account, was that mobile phones receive a lot of holiday Spam from the cell phone companies. Such a greeting triggered the explosion in the guesthouse. The truth, according to our experts, indicates a lack of professionalism on the part of the suicide bomber. Usually the phone is only switched on just before its last text message, in order to prevent such an accident.

The location the terrorists chose to prepare for their attack is worthy of note. The shooting club is located in a remote forest near the Moscow Ring Road, and across the fence is the army’s legendary Moscow School of High Command. Getting into the club is no problem — there is no pass system at the checkpoint, and the barrier is always up. There are few people at the shooting range, but shots can regularly be heard from the skeet range. Along an alley are the guest cottages. The one that was blown up is the first one, closest to the checkpoint. We went into the next one to find the administrator.

“Want to rent a cottage? Please. A single is 1,800 rubles a day. We have a beautiful place here, they only shoot up until 5:00, so it shouldn’t interfere with sleep.”

- Can one rent without a passport? I only have a driver’s license.

“Oh, no.” The administrator is strained. “I can’t without a passport. Although… are you from Moscow? I’ll try to ask my supervisor, but I doubt it very much.”

- Say, we saw the destroyed cottage, what happened?

“Oh, nothing special, a fire. Some drunken guests before New Year’s set a mattress on fire. We’re tearing it down and building a new one.”

On the way out the reporters make a detailed inspection of the ruined building, which is surrounded by a crime scene tape. All the glass in the house is broken, and the window lattice bars are arched outward slightly. There are traces of a fire, but it is obvious that the nature of the damage is not from this. A blast took place inside and knocked out the back wall. The wooden door is sealed: “No entry without permission of the prosecutor’s office.”

According to ‘MK’, yesterday an operational investigative team planned to reexamine the guesthouse to find new clues linking the December 31st explosion with the tragedy at Domodedovo airport. The evidence can hardly please the security services. In this case they may have to admit to being unsuitable for their line of work: according to our research, Zeynat Suyunova definitely knew that the failed New Year’s Eve attempt was not the only terror attack, and that preparations for the airport bombing had begun shortly after the failure of the attack on Manege Square. Domodedovo, moreover, was not chosen out of the blue: just before the New Year, the airport was made famous because of a blackout that stranded tens of thousands of passengers there, and nearly led to rioting. One gets the impression that terrorists choose places that receive the most “notoriety” in the media.

According to the security services, preparation for the terrorist attack on Domodedovo airport took place in a rented apartment in Zelenograd. On January 20th, security officers carried out a massive operation to capture the terrorists. It ended, however, as usual — with nothing. According to some reports, the suspects left their safe house exactly one day before the secret police raided the place, and laid low elsewhere. The terrorists knew the authorities were on their heels, and so decided to blow up Domodedovo while they still had time.

Shortly before the bombing, the terrorists engaged in reconnaissance and did a few “hits” to check security readiness for trouble, and the possibility of bringing explosives inside. That is why the security services are now checking not only security cameras installed in the arrivals hall, but also recordings made by other cameras earlier. It now turns out that smuggling six kilograms of TNT into an airport under a heavy winter jacket is no problem. Passing through the metal detector, of course, the suicide bomber would “ring” just the same as passengers with mobile phones, coins, keys, and belt buckles. Only this time the metal detector was responding to a few wires and a battery that made up the detonator, and no one in security would pay much attention to it.

According to an already well-established pattern, there were three terrorists in Domodedovo airport: one performer, and two “escorts”, just in cause the suicide bomber at the last minute “jumped” — got scared, changed his mind, or aroused the suspicion of security. More than likely, the “controller” left the international arrivals area several seconds before the suicide bomber detonated, but there is some ambiguity with regards to the second “controller”. There is anecdotal evidence that the explosion killed two terrorists – the suicide bomber and one of the terrorists who accompanied him. The FSB have been paying a lot of attention to two unidentified corpses.

The body of the suicide bomber is at the Bureau of Forensic Medicine. One of the investigators admitted that the suicide bomber’s head was left intact, which should facilitate identification. The description of what remains of the suicide bomber only takes a few lines: a leg fragment up to the knee, covered with hair; a leather, fur-lined boot; a patch of fabric from some black, shiny trousers; two pieces of insulated flannel under trousers; and a second leg in a piece of black trousers, located at a distance of 100 meters. There are some interesting findings, however: the suicide bomber apparently hid explosives in small pockets of a back support belt, which is usually used for radiculitis. Also found was a car alarm key fob — perhaps what was used to power the bomb. Next to the remains of the suicide bomber they also found… a bag containing the Holy Bible and Christian religious texts. Why a terrorist would need such books before his death is a mystery.

A COMMENT FROM AN EXPLOSIVES EXPERT

Judging from everything, the bomb was smokeless, uncovered plastique. I am certain that it was plastique because it is twice as powerful as TNT, and also 30 percent more efficient if not diluted, of course. According to the rules of the genre, plastique is filled with nuts, bolts, and ball bearings – sub-munitions. The blast wave went downward, because the explosion was undirected. To create a lateral blast, you need to more strongly force it into a shape, while an undirected blast always goes downward and to the side. When the explosives experts determine what kind of material was used in the bombing, it will become clearer where they got it. If it was plastique, it could have come from the looting of warehouses in the Caucasus — a huge amount was plundered, sold, and exported after the war to South Ossetia. If it was C4 — the American counterpart of plastique — it could have been brought across the Georgia-Azerbaijan border, where the border is transparent and you can simply walk across.

Material: from ‘MK’ reporters

Category: TERROR ATTACK

© 1919 — 2010 Moskovsky Komsomolets

Comments (2)

1. из «ориентировки» ФСБ и ГРУ- знакомое Written by Википедия , on 27-01-2011 23:37 http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Рияд_Салихин О её создании чеченский террорист Шамиль Басаев объявил в октябре 2002 года, после захвата заложнков в театральном центре на Дубровке. 28 февраля 2003 года Государственный департамент США внёс «Риядус Салихийн» в список террористических организаций, что предусматривает арест всех активов организации и запрет на въезд её членов в страну. «…организация неизменно берёт на себя ответственность за все теракты, осуществленные на территории России с участием смертников. „ “…Некоторые наблюдатели полагают, что на практике отдельного формирования с таким названием не существовало, а террористические акты, за которые Басаев брал ответственность от имени руководителя „Риядус-Салихийн“, на самом деле совершались разными группами террористов. Басаев использовал указание на „Риядус-Салихийн“ для повышения силы информационного воздействия от терактов, совершаемых теми или иным группами. Это предположение косвенно подтверждает то, что многие взрывы, за которые Басаев брал ответственность от имени „Риядус-Салихийн“, оказались совершены совсем другими автономными террористическими группами.» (Материал из «Википедии») Report

2. Смертницу осудили на 10 лет Written by Лента.ру , on 19-05-2012 07:49 24-летняя Зейнаб Суюнова, пытавшаяся осуществить теракт на Красной площади в Москве, осуждена на 10 лет лишения свободы. Об этом сообщается 18 мая на сайте Следственного комитета РФ. Как установило следствие, Суюнова входила в состав «губденской» бандгруппы, которой руководил Ибрагимхалил Даудов. В ночь на 1 января 2011 года она должна была совершить самоподрыв на Красной площади, однако этот план сорвался. Вечером 31 декабря сообщница Суюновой Завжат Даудова случайно привела в действие взрывное устройство в гостевом домике в московском парке Кузьминки. Даудова погибла на месте, а Суюнова бежала. «По не зависящим от нее обстоятельствам» обвиняемая не смогла осуществить теракт: она потеряла на месте взрыва в гостинице предохранитель от взрывного устройства, а кроме того, телефон. Суюнова не знала, где в Москве находится Красная площадь, и без мобильной связи не могла получить указания от главаря банды. 2 января Суюнову задержали в Волгограде при попытке бегства в Дагестан. Позже благодаря помощи Суюновой следователи установили и задержали других организаторов «новогодних» терактов в Москве. В апреле 2012 года стало известно, что Суюнова заключила сделку со следствием, ее дело было выделено в отдельное производство. Перед этим Суюнова заявляла, что бандиты заставляли ее совершить теракт, отобрав маленькую дочку. Следствие, однако, опровергло эту версию. В итоге Суюнова признана виновной в бандитизме, покушении на террористический акт, незаконном хранении оружия и изготовлении взрывчатых веществ в составе организованной группы. Она будет отбывать наказание в колонии общего режима. 18.05.2012 Report

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