Islamic link fear in Russian bombings

A leading US expert on terrorism has indicated that there are strong links between the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI), the shadowy terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden and the series of explosions which have destroyed apartment blocks with the loss of more than 200 lives in Moscow and the Dagestani town of Buinaksk.

Sources in Moscow have stated that a series of 10 major bombs have been planned for Russian cities as part of a campaign to bring the current war in the southern region of Dagestan to Russia itself. Russian forces are currently fighting rebels led by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev and a mysterious Arab known only as "Khattab".

Mr Yossef Bodansky, director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare for the US House of Representatives, answering questions over the Internet yesterday, said Islamist rebels from Chechnya and their allies have had the skill and knowledge to make powerful bombs such as those which have exploded in Moscow, since the mid-1990s.

"The expert terrorists among them were trained mainly in Pakistan/Afghanistan although a few were also trained in specialised schools in Iran and Sudan," he said. Mr Bodansky, the author of Bin Laden: the man who declared war on America, said that by 1996 there was "ample evidence" on the availability of stockpiles of high explosives throughout Russia, particularly in the main cities.

Chechen forces had shown some restraint, even during the Chechen war, as far as the bombing of civilian targets in Russia was concerned for two main reasons, he said. Firstly, what he described as "sane" Chechen leaders such as the current President, Mr Aslan Maskhadov, did not want to force Moscow into a situation where it would find itself unable to come to a compromise settlement of the Chechen question.

Secondly, the forces to which key foreigners and expert terrorists involved in the conflicts in the Caucasus answered, were then controlled by Iran, which did not want to halt arms imports from Russia.

PAKISTAN was at present the main sponsor of the Mujahideen in the Northern Caucasus, which it controlled via "deniable cut-outs" such as Osama bin Laden, according to Mr Bodansky. A mainly religious leader, bin Laden was a convenient cover for activities by states which wanted to avoid sanctions against their covert actions.

Preparations for the current outbreak of bombing had been under way for over a year, he said, as part of a destabilisation programme by Pakistan. "Islamabad's interest is in flaring up the entire region and creating strategic mayhem. Hence, the expert terrorists have been unleashed both in the Caucasus and in Moscow. This is only the beginning."

The mysterious "Khattab" calls himself "Khattab the Jordanian" but, in fact, is the son of a wealthy Saudi family, according to Mr Bodansky. He was born in 1970 and won a place at an American university but went instead to Afghanistan. He helped turn Chechnya's original national liberation movement into an Islamist struggle. "Now there is no going back. Once you are swept into the whirlpool you will drown," Mr Bodansky said.

Russian journalist Mr Vyacheslav Izmailov, who has for a long time dealt with leading Chechen groups for the release of hostages, has interviewed a man who is believed to have been part of the group of bombers in Moscow.

In a telephone interview, Mr Izmailov, who is regarded as one of the most reliable Russian observers of the conflict in the Caucasus, said he had been contacted by a member of a bombing group who had become afraid of his involvement following the bomb which killed one person in an underground shopping mall at the end of last month.

The man, who has now handed himself over to Russian security forces, said groups of bombers have been sent to cities, including Moscow, St Petersburg and Rostov-onDon. Many of them were Slavs who had served in the Russian and Soviet armies and were being used for the bombings because they were less visible on the streets of Russian cities than dark-skinned Caucasians. The Slavs, some Russian and some Ukrainian, had been recruited by Shirvani Basayev, brother of the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.

According to his informant, Khattab swore on the Koran that he would pay each of the Slavs $5,000 for their part in terrorist acts. Groups each consisting of 10 men went to Moscow and St Petersburg, where they were broken into subgroups. Each group was supplied with more than $100,000 to buy cars, rent apartments and gather bomb-making material.

Although Slavs made up the majority of the bombers, each group was, according to Mr Izmailov, headed by someone from the Caucasus. Strict secrecy was observed and even members of the same group did not confide in each other.

Mr Izmailov called on Russians to realise that Slavs were involved and not to have anything to do with racist retaliation against Caucasians. The bombing of Chechen villages by Russian forces at the weekend had aggravated the political and military situation. After the bombing which cost 62 lives at Buinaksk in Dagestan on September 4th, the Russians bombed Chechen villages out of helplessness.

"If they bomb, they should bomb the gangs of bandits, not villagers."