DATE=9/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA BLAST, 2ND UPDATE (L)
NUMBER=2-253806
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Another powerful bomb has exploded in Moscow,
demolishing an apartment building and killing at least
34 people. Many others are believed buried in the
rubble. This is the second such explosion in five
days. V-O-A Moscow correspondent Peter Heinlein
reports that Russian President Boris Yeltsin has
ordered heightened security across the country, and
issued an appeal for calm.
TEXT: It was an eerie replay of last Thursday's
deadly blast. A massive pre-dawn explosion ripped
through a multi-story apartment complex, reducing the
structure to a heap of smoldering concrete and twisted
metal.
After Thursday's blast, which killed more than 90
people, authorities hesitated to say it was a bomb.
This time, Federal Security Service spokesman
Alexander Zdanovich said there is no doubt.
///ZDANOVICH ACT///
He says, "A real war of terrorism is being waged."
Mr. Zdanovich says investigators have established a
clear link between the two bombings. He showed
reporters a sketch of a suspect who rented space on
the ground floor of both buildings, exactly at the
spot where the bombs were located.
///2ND ZDANOVICH ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
The Security Service spokesman says, "The terrorists
used approximately the same scheme as we discovered
earlier. They rented space in the buildings some time
ago, then planted explosive devices."
President Boris Yeltsin immediately ordered additional
security measures in the capital, saying terrorists
are trying to frighten people and demoralize the
state.
///YELTSIN ACT///
He says, "Bandits are operating secretly, under the
carpet, like wild animals. They are sneaking in at
night, killing women, children and the elderly in
their sleep."
Mr. Yeltsin told senior security officials and Moscow
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov that extra efforts must be made to
avoid public panic. He said security measures would
also be taken in other large cities, as well as at
nuclear power plants and other strategic
installations.
///OPT///
Suspicion in the bombings immediately focused on
insurgent groups battling Russian troops in the
southern Dagestan region. Moscow's Mayor Luzhkov
bluntly accused forces in Chechnya, the breakaway
region bordering Dagestan.
///LUZHKOV ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
He says, "We name Chechen bandits as the source of
this terrorist act." The mayor promised a special
regime of what he called "tough and radical" measures
against what he called Chechen "guests" in the
capital.
U-S Defense Secretary William Cohen, who is in Moscow
for talks on arms control and other defense issues,
called the bombings "terrorism aimed at innocent
civilians." He pledged United States cooperation in
the search for the culprits.
///END OPT///
This latest bomb attack came on a national day of
mourning declared for the victims of Thursday's bomb
and two other fatal explosions in the past two weeks.
The first one, on August 31st, killed one person at a
Moscow shopping mall adjacent to the Kremlin. The
second, at a military housing complex in Dagestan,
left 65 people dead, most of them dependents of
Russian soldiers battling Muslim insurgents there.
(SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/GE/BAK
13-Sep-1999 08:32 AM EDT (13-Sep-1999 1232 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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