Suicide bomber kills at least 16 ahead of Russia's Olympics

TheMasterOfOrion · Dec 29, 2013

A suicide bomber struck a busy railway station in southern Russia on Sunday, killing at least 15 others and wounding scores more, officials said, in a stark reminder of the threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Olympics in Sochi.]

TheMasterOfOrion · Dec 29, 2013

Do the Saudis really control the terrorists they court?

http://nypost.com/2013/12/23/do-the-saudis-really-control-the-terrorists-they-court/

There was so much Saudi-related evidence that it took 28 pages just for Hill investigators to summarize it all.In fact, there arguably was more evidence for the Justice Department to indict Omar al-Bayoumi, the suspected Saudi intelligence agent who aided two of the hijackers in San Diego, than there was to indict Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker. The attorney general could just have easily thrown material support of terrorism charges at Bayoumi. But he did not. The only real difference is Bayoumi’s a Saudi.If Bush’s objective really was to avoid tipping off subjects of ongoing investigations, he could have carefully redacted the names of Bayoumi and other Saudis cited in the 28-page section. Instead, he elected to censor the entire section, scrubbing out anything and everything Saudi.The day before he did that, he met with the Saudis in the White House to discuss that secret Saudi section, which remains classified today. Walking away from that hour-long meeting, the Saudis no doubt felt reassured their secrets were safe. Confident Bush would never release the 28 pages, Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar made a show of demanding they be released, arguing the Saudis have nothing to hide.It was an obvious, if effective, ploy.The congressional report safely sealed up, the Saudis had only the 9/11 Commission Report to worry about — and, lo and behold, it cleared the Saudis (even though the commission director never let investigators see the 28 pages from the earlier congressional report). Upon its release, Bandar clucked that the panel exonerated the Kingdom, not to mention himself, conveniently.The report curiously leaves out evidence tying Bandar and his wife to the hijackers through a Saudi bag man, Osama Bassnan, who received personal checks from the Bandars while handling the hijackers in San Diego. Bandar appears a few times in footnotes, and only in passing.The Bandars claim the checks were “welfare” for Bassnan’s supposedly ill wife, and that they did not know what Bassnan was really up to.Maybe so. The Saudis have a history of turning a blind eye to the extremists among them, funding radical mosques as a way of placating their population and keeping themselves in power.But even if you take Bandar’s ignorance at face value, as he sows the wind, we reap the whirlwind.Last year, Bandar was promoted to chief of Saudi intelligence. Saudi Arabia very much wants to see Bashar al-Assad removed from power in Syria. Bandar, frustrated with Obama’s inaction, has been letting Saudi jihadists cross the border to fight in the civil war — and has been funneling arms and support to the Islamic Front rebel group, according to the Daily Beast, weapons that can easily end up in the hands of al Qaeda.Bandar also has pushed Russia to drop its backing of Assad. In August, according to the Telegraph, he gave President Vladimir Putin both a carrot — oil deals — and a stick:“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year,” Bandar allegedly said. “The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us.”By Chechen groups, he means Islamic terrorists — just like the ones who bombed the Boston Marathon. It’s a startling, shocking admission.Which is the more scary scenario? That members of the Saudi government provide funding to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups but can’t control them — or that they can?Either way, we can’t find out the full story without an investigation. And the necessary first step is declassifying those 28 pages. Let’s finally connect those dots.
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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/1...at-russian-railway-station/?intcmp=latestnews

The bombing highlights the daunting security challenge Russia will face in fulfilling its pledge to make the Sochi Games the "safest Olympics in history." The government has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers, police and other security personnel to protect the games.Through the day, officials issued conflicting statements on casualties. Officials said that the suspected bomber was a woman, but late Sunday the Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified law enforcement officer as saying footage taken by surveillance cameras indicated that the bomber was a man. There was no immediate confirmation of that claim from any official sources.The bomber detonated explosives in front of a metal detector just beyond the station's main entrance when a police sergeant became suspicious and rushed forward to check ID, officials said. The officer was killed by the blast, and several other policemen were wounded."When the suicide bomber saw a policeman near a metal detector, she became nervous and set off her explosive device," Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the nation's top investigative agency, said in a statement. He added that the bomb contained about 22 pounds of TNT and was rigged with shrapnel.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/dec/29/volgograd-station-bombing-pictures

in pictures -
Russian authorities say female suicide bomber suspected after blast rips through building, leaving 15 people dead and another 50 injured in southern Russian city, six weeks before start of Winter Olympics
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Greylock Crescent · Dec 29, 2013

First, my condolences to all affected by this tragedy.

Second:

TheMasterOfOrion said: ↑

Do the Saudis really control the terrorists they court?
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Do you have any evidence whatsoever that the bomber has a Saudi connection? Evidence that the authorities in Russia do not yet have? (Not likely, since there are already conflicting accounts as to the gender of the bomber, much less the bomber's national origins, political affiliations, intentions, etc.) I'd say it's a bit irresponsible to be jumping to such a conclusion - to say nothing of quoting the NYPost.

JoeZhang · Dec 30, 2013

At least 14 people have been killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd, investigators say.

The blast comes a day after 17 people died in another suicide attack at the central station in the city.

Security has been tightened at railway stations and airports across Russia.

Moscow is concerned militant groups could be ramping up violence in the run-up to the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city of Sochi.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25546477

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Suicide bomber kills at least 16 ahead of Russia's Olympics

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