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Military

American Forces Press Service

Cohen Offers U.S. Help to Combat Terrorism

 
 By Linda D. Kozaryn
 
American Forces Press Service

 MOSCOW -- Hours after a bomb blast destroyed an eight-story 
 apartment complex here Sept. 13, Defense Secretary William S. 
 Cohen publicly condemned the attack and offered U.S. help. 
 The apartment complex in southern Moscow was home to 60 
 families. Several hours after the blast, rescue workers had 
 pulled one survivor from the rubble and more than 50 bodies.
 The blast was the latest in a wave of bombings in Russia in the 
 past month, according to local news reports. Five days earlier, 
 92 people died when a bomb destroyed another apartment complex 
 here. Bombings also occurred at a shopping mall and in Dagestan, 
 a town in southern Russia where a building housing military 
 officer families was flattened. 
 "There can be no justification for any group taking any action 
 against innocent civilians," Cohen said of the latest attack. 
 "We intend to cooperate in whatever fashion we can to work with 
 the Russian people." The secretary was in Moscow to meet with 
 Russian officials on a variety of defense matters.
 "I want to express my deepest sympathies to the victims of 
 terrorism both in Moscow and in Dagestan. Today is a day of 
 mourning here in Russia, and I join in that mourning," Cohen 
 told his hosts. He called the bombing "a cowardly, callous act 
 of terrorism that killed scores of people, including many 
 children."
 Without giving details, Cohen pledged the United States would 
 help Russia combat terrorism. "We will share information," he 
 said. "We will talk about ways we can share technology. We will 
 ask our experts to meet to develop ways we can help in this 
 joint effort to combat terrorism which is a scourge against 
 mankind."
 Russian defense leader Igor Sergeyev acknowledged the need to 
 share information. "We believe that now we need to integrate our 
 records to combat terrorism," he said through an interpreter. 
 "In the past, terrorists were just carrying out several attacks. 
 Now, they are waging a terrorist war against us -- terrorist 
 operations. These are new realities and we have to oppose them 
 with new steps on our part."
 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep1999/n09151999_9909154.html



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