MOSCOW SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS AT LEAST 10, INJURES 50
By Steve Gutterman

September 1, 2004 - (AP) A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 50 - the second terrorist attack to hit Russia in a week.

Seven days earlier, almost to the hour, two Russian jetliners crashed within minutes of each other in what officials say were terrorist bombings.

All 90 people aboard the aircraft were killed, and the investigation has focused on two Chechen women believed to have been passengers.

A militant Muslim website monitored in Cairo published a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing on behalf of the "Islambouli Brigades," a group that also claimed responsibility for the airliner crashes. The veracity of the statements could not immediately be confirmed.

The statement said Tuesday's bombing was the group's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin, "who slaughtered Muslims time and again."
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Putin has firmly refused to negotiate with the rebels in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, saying they must be wiped out.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters near the Rizhskaya subway stop in northern Moscow that the bomber was walking toward the station shortly after 8 p.m. but turned around when she saw two police officers.

She "decided to destroy herself in a crowd of people" in a busy area between the subway station and a nearby department store-supermarket complex, Luzhkov said, adding that her bomb was packed with bolts and pieces of metal.

"There was a desire to cause maximum damage," he said.

From: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E11676%257E2371923,00.html