Chechen rebel leader Umarov charged with plotting Domodedovo airport bombing

[News_Editor]

Chechen rebel leader Umarov charged with plotting Domodedovo airport bombing

2011-03-29 22:37:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Chechen Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov on Tuesday was charged in absentia with plotting the Domodedovo airport deadly blast, Itar-Tass news agencyreported.

Russia's Investigation Committee (SK) charged Umarov and four suspected terrorists for organizing the bombing and establishing an armed group. The announcement came as Russian security forces are conducting an operation in the volatile southern republic of Ingushetia.

"The SK continues the investigation into the criminal case over the act of terror at the Domodedovo airport on January 24 The investigators passed resolutions to arraign active members of illegal paramilitary formations, including Doku Umarov and Aslan Byutukayev," said Vladimir Markin, spokesman for SK.

During the operation, Russian police officers detained Islam Yandiyev and Ilez Yandiyev. The brothers were accused of leading the suicide bomber to the Domodedovo airport. The Yandiyev brothers went hiding after the terror attack.

"A search of the places where the Yandiyevs lived found a loaded suicide belt, and two self-made explosive devices. The detention of them and the finding of explosive devices at their place concluded that they were preparing an act of terror. The timely detention enabled police to intercept their next criminal design," added Markin.

On January 24, a suicide bombing killed 37 people and injured around 200 more in Moscow's Domodedovo airport. Rebel leader Umarov claimed responsibility for ordering the terror attack in pursuit of an independent Muslim state in Russia's North Caucasus region.

The suicide bomber was later identified as Magomed Yevloyev, a resident of the Ingush village of Ali-Yurt. Russian authorities launched a probe that resulted in four suspects, Umarov, Byutukayev and the Yandiyev brothers.

"The investigators intend to charge the Yandiyevs shortly, under five articles of the Criminal Code, including terrorism and banditry. An investigator's petition requesting the arrest of them has already been sent to the Lenin district court of Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia," added the SK spokesman.

On Monday, four people were killed in a shooting that erupted in Ingushetia between security forces and gunmen. Three police officers and one gunman were gunned down at the Verhny Alkun village.

Police were executing an ID check when the resident, Aslan Tsechoyev, 32, shot at them. After the gunfire, police officers seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle, ammunition, and a gas mask at the scene.

In addition, at least 17 militants were killed during a combined air and ground strike which targeted a suspected terrorist camp behind the airport's suicide bombing as well as attacks in North Ossetia and Ingushetia.

Furthermore, two Russian Federal Security operatives and a police officer were killed in the operation. Russia has been fighting terrorists in the troubled North Caucasus region for over a decade.

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