21 July 2005, 17:38
Znamenskoye bombing death toll reaches 15
The number of victims of the terror attack in the Chechen village of Znamenskoye has reached 15. A woman died from wounds in hospital, Ekho Moskvi Radio says referring to Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Shepel. Among the victims are two children - boys aged 11 and 6.
People suspected of involvement in the bombing have been established, announced Secretary of the Chechen Security Council Rudnik Dudayev. Shamil Basayev is considered to be the main suspect in organizing the terror attack.
The investigators have reconstructed the incident. According to one of them, at about 12:49 Moscow time on 19 July, duty officers at the Nadterechny District Police Department received a radio message from a local policeman that unknown people in a Zhiguli car without number plates had opened fire at a UAZ car in the village of Znamenskoye on Lesnaya Street.
Senior officers of the police department and investigators left for the scene in four cars. "At 13:10 Moscow time, when the UAZ car with an unidentified man's body inside was being examined, a self-made bomb mounted in the car went off," the investigator said to RIA Novosti.
Specialists estimate the capacity of the bomb at 10 kilograms of trotyl equivalent.