Night ram

Dagestan militants attacked a field camp of the Ministry of Defense near Buinaksk

Three people were killed and at least 32 were injured, according to official figures, as a result of a major terrorist attack that rocked Dagestan on Sunday night. All the victims are servicemen of the 136th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Ministry of Defense stationed near Buinaksk, whose field camp was attacked by a suicide bomber in a car filled with explosives.

Yesterday, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov personally went to the scene of the emergency to understand the reasons why the security forces once again missed a significant blow from the militants. However, there have been no official comments yet from him or the investigators - information about the circumstances of the attack was received yesterday with conflicting information. Sources of news agencies in the security forces stated that the camp’s guards were allegedly unprepared to repel a terrorist attack. According to preliminary data from the investigation, the guards nevertheless managed to stop the terrorist’s car at the entrance to the unit, preventing it from breaking through to the tents in which the soldiers were sleeping. In this case, obviously, the number of victims would be in the dozens, if not hundreds.

However, the question of how competently certain specific military ranks acted in this case, whether they complied with job descriptions and the provisions of the charter to ensure the security of their own unit, is to a certain extent rhetorical. The fact that not only the military, but also many other officials are often, to put it mildly, not able to perform their direct duties in the best way is not news. Moreover, this is not the first time that security forces have been unable to ensure the security of even their own facilities. The last most famous such case was the bombing of the city police department of Nazran in August last year . Then a suicide bomber in a bomb-laden truck managed to drive straight into the courtyard of the police department, where the formation of personnel was taking place.

Much more unpleasant - both for the federal and republican authorities - is the very fact of such a large-scale terrorist attack. Only a week ago, the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, reported to President Medvedev about a series of successful special operations, as a result of which several leaders of North Caucasian extremists were destroyed at once. This was regarded by the head of state as “quite sensitive damage” to the bandit underground. But the militants themselves, judging by the events of recent days, did not particularly feel this damage and, on the contrary, only became more active.

Whether the sabotage near Buinaksk was a deliberate response of the separatists to the recent actions of the special services and the statement of President Medvedev or whether it turned out to be a coincidence, no one can say yet. It is possible, by the way, that this terrorist attack could have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the explosion of a residential building in Buinaksk on September 4, 1999 (64 people were killed), which became the first in a series of terrorist attacks that later occurred in Volgodonsk and Moscow. But in any case, the organizers of the attack on the military camp achieved political effect.

Thus, the President of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov, who visited the site of the terrorist attack yesterday, was forced to admit that what happened “suggests that the bandit underground in the republic still has the strength for such vile attacks.” At the same time, he expressed confidence that “the situation will be turned around” and “in the future such incidents should be excluded,” and “the republican FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are working successfully” and “the gang underground will be decapitated and weakened.” But when this will happen is unknown. Russian officials have been regularly uttering similar words for more than ten years.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the attack on the field camp of the 136th motorized rifle brigade (military unit No. 63354), located near the village of Gerey-Avlak, Buinaksky district, occurred on Sunday around one in the morning. A suicide bomber in a VAZ-2114 car loaded with explosives, who arrived from the village of Takaloi, rammed the barrier at the outer checkpoint of the Dalniy training ground and tried to break through to the tent camp at high speed. After warning shots, the camp guards opened fire, after which, apparently, the suicide bomber was killed and the already out-of-control car crashed into a GAZ-66 truck, which one of the military men managed to block the road with. After the collision, an explosion occurred, the power of which, according to preliminary data, was 25-30 kg in TNT equivalent. According to the representative of the Ministry of Defense Alexey Kuznetsov, the driver of the truck remained alive and is in the hospital, and only the frame of the truck itself remained.

According to preliminary data, only part of the explosive, which was made on the basis of ammonium nitrate, went off in the suicide bomber's car. Presumably, there were two charges in the car - in the trunk and in the passenger compartment, the total capacity of which, according to preliminary data, was more than 50 kg of TNT. At the site of the explosion, where a three-meter crater was formed, fragments of the terrorist’s body were found, as well as the rear axle and part of the engine of his car.

According to the Ministry of Defense, as a result of the terrorist attack in the camp, three tents burned down, each of which was designed for 40 people. In addition to the terrorist himself, three servicemen were killed - 19-year-old Merabi Tsibirov from North Ossetia, Alexander Timofeev from Surgut and Ivan Burdygin from the Krasnodar Territory. Another 32 people (according to the UPC - 34) were injured. “32 servicemen of the 136th motorized rifle brigade injured in the terrorist attack were taken to local military hospitals,” the Ministry of Defense said yesterday. -- Military doctors are fighting for the lives of five seriously wounded servicemen. 27 servicemen have mild to moderate injuries, their lives are not in danger.” According to the head of the surgical department of the Buinaksk military hospital, Alexei Poimanov, the condition of one of the victims is assessed as extremely serious. For most of the wounded, doctors diagnosed shrapnel wounds and burns. Yesterday, 27 wounded in the terrorist attack were taken on two flights to the Rostov district military hospital.

“Everyone was asleep. There was an explosion and then a fire started. They began to get out of the tents, then they began to pull out those who remained in the collapsed tents,” wounded Pavel Pavlenko said in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel. “I lost consciousness, then woke up, got out of the tent, there was a lot of smoke. Then we returned back to the tent and began to evacuate the others,” said another victim, Nikolai Kondrus.

Yesterday morning the terrorist attack was reported to President Medvedev, who ordered assistance to the families of the victims and the necessary assistance to the victims. He instructed the Minister of Defense to take measures to strengthen the security of military installations and exercise areas. “A set of additional measures to prevent terrorist activity is being carried out in the Southern Military District,” the Ministry of Defense reported. -- The composition and regime of daily duty duty and guard duty have been strengthened. A duty group has been formed at the headquarters of the military district with the participation of representatives of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Yesterday, Mr. Serdyukov flew to Dagestan, where he inspected the site of the terrorist attack. “Anatoly Serdyukov heard from the acting commander of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant General Alexander Galkin, and the commander of the 136th brigade about the measures taken to strengthen the security of facilities in the district and garrison, as well as to provide medical care to the victims,” said a representative of the Ministry of Defense. “He also instructed the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Colonel General Alexander Postnikov, and Lieutenant General Galkin to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances and causes of the incident and prepare a detailed report with specific proposals for preventing terrorist attacks on military installations.”

Meanwhile, several hours after the suicide bombing, another explosion occurred nearby at a field camp. A bomb planted on the roadside went off in the path of the operational investigation team heading to the site of the terrorist attack. By luck, it also did not work completely; in addition, by the time of the explosion, the operatives’ car had already passed by, and no one was injured.

Over the weekend, two more serious emergencies occurred in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. A police officer was killed in Nalchik on Sunday night. The patrol tried to check the documents of a suspicious passerby, but he shot one of the guards at point-blank range and ran away. It was not possible to detain him. The criminal left behind a bag in which a homemade bomb with a capacity of 1 kg of TNT and cartridges were found. On Saturday, in Makhachkala, an attempt was made on the life of the Minister of National Policy, Religious Affairs and External Relations Bekmurza Bekmurzaev. When the official left his yard on his way to work, a mine planted under the bottom of his car went off. The minister's driver died on the spot, and Mr. Bekmurzaev himself and his two accompanying people were taken to the hospital.

Anatoly KARAVAEV, Alexey GRISHIN