Double suicide bombings kill 38 on Moscow subway

[David]

AP


MOSCOW – Female suicide bombers blew themselves up Monday in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 38 people and wounding more than 60, officials said. The carnage blamed on rebels from the Caucasus region follows the killings of several high-profile Islamic militant leaders there.

The blasts come six years after Islamic separatists from the southern Russian region carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again come to the capital, amid militants' warnings of a renewed determination to push their fight.

Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing late last year on a passenger train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Last month, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned Russians in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Web site that "the war is coming to their cities."

The first explosion took place just before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency, a symbol of power under Vladimir Putin.

About 45 minutes later, a second explosion hit the Park Kultury station, which is near the renowned Gorky Park. In both cases, the bombs were detonated as the trains pulled into the stations and the doors were opening.

"I heard a bang, turned my head and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming," said 24-year-old Alexander Vakulov, who was on a train on the platform opposite the targeted train at Park Kultury.

"I saw a dead person for the first time in my life," said Valentin Popov, 19, who had just arrived at the station from the opposite direction.

Prime Minister Putin, who built much of his political capital by directing a fierce war with Chechen separatists a decade ago, vowed Monday that "terrorists will be destroyed."

Militants in the Caucasus have declared the creation of an Islamic state as their top goal. The militants receive moral and financial support from al-Qaida, which for years has celebrated the Chechen struggle as one of the key fronts for roving Muslim fighters along with Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia.

Moscow is unlikely to hit back at the rebels with massive firepower: The Kremlin has installed loyal leaders in the areas where the militants operate, making bombing campaigns of the kind used in the 1990s Chechen wars out of the question.

The Kremlin is already engaged in a huge escalation of its operations to smash the rebels, and it is difficult to see what more it could do.

The iconic Moscow subway system is the world's second-busiest after Tokyo's, carrying around 7 million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city.

Russian TV showed amateur video from inside the Lubyanka station of wounded and possibly dead victims sitting and lying on the floor. The train platform was filled with smoke. The LifeNews.ru site showed gruesome photos of dead passengers sprawled inside a mangled subway car and a bloody leg lying on a station platform.

Outside both stations, passengers flooded out, many of them crying and making frantic calls on their cell phones. The wounded were loaded into ambulances and helicopters, some with their heads wrapped in bloody bandages, as sirens wailed.

The last confirmed terrorist attack in Moscow was in August 2004, when a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a subway station, killing 10 people. Responsibility for that blast was claimed by Chechen rebels.

A more devastating attack took place in February of that year, when a suicide bomber from the North Caucasus set off explosives during morning rush hour as it traveled between stations. More than 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

Russian police have killed several Islamic militant leaders in the North Caucasus recently, including one last week in the Kabardino-Balkariya region, which has raised fears of retaliatory strikes by the militants.

The militants receive moral and perhaps financial support from al-Qaida. Dozens of contributors to three Web sites affiliated with al-Qaida wrote comments in praise of Monday's attacks.

One site opened a special page to "receive congratulations" for the Chechen rebels who "started the dark tunnel attacks in the apostate countries," and all wished for God to accept the two sisters as martyrs.

"Don't forget Russia's crimes of genocide in the Caucasus and Chechnya," said one writer. "The battle has been shifted to the heart of Moscow," another wrote.

In a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said body fragments of the two bombers pointed to a Caucasus connection. The bombers have not been identified and Bortnikov did not elaborate.

"We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end," Medvedev said.

Neither he nor Putin, who was on an official trip in Siberia, announced specific measures and it was not clear if Russia has new strategies to unleash in the Caucasus, where violent separatism has spread from Chechnya into neighboring republics.

Although the Russian army battered Chechen rebels in massive assaults a decade ago, the separatists continue to move through the region's mountains and forests with comparative ease and launch frequent small attacks.

New York's transit system beefed up security as a precaution following the Moscow bombings. A spokesman for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Kevin Ortiz, said the agency has a "heightened security presence," but declined further comment.

The agency is in charge of New York City buses and subways, as well as suburban trains, and bridges and tunnels. In London and Madrid, two other cities that have suffered transit system terror attacks, officials said there were no immediate plans to tighten security.

At 4 p.m., the two Moscow subway stations reopened and dozens boarded the waiting trains.

"It's really terrifying," said Vasily Vlastinin, 16. "It's become dangerous to ride the metro, but I'll keep taking the metro. You have to get to school, to college, to work somehow."

Both stations had been scrubbed clean. Holes left by shrapnel in the granite were the only reminder of the day's tragic bombings.

[revwardoc]

FBI: Mich. Militia Plotted IED Attacks On Police
Members Of Christian Militia Group Arrested For Conspiring To Attack Law Enforcement With IEDs

Nine suspects arrested by the FBI this weekend were part of a plot by members of a Christian militia group to kill police officers, according to federal authorities.

According to a federal indictment unsealed this morning in Detroit, members of the Midwestern militia group had planned multiple attacks on police officers or other law enforcement personnel as a way of acting out their hatred for the government.

Weekend raids by the FBI in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana stopped the plot, authorities said, before any attacks could be carried out.

A federal grand jury has charged six Michigan residents, along with two residents of Ohio and one from Indiana, with seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The five-count indictment charges that between August 2008 and the present, a Lenawee County, Mich. militia group called the Hutaree was preparing to engage members of local, state, and federal law enforcement in armed conflict. The group's name means "Christian warrior," CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.


Read Indictment Against Hutaree
Department Of Justice Press Release

Videos posted on Hutaree's Web site show heavily-armed, camouflaged fighters practicing with assault rifles. Prosecutors say militia members hoped to kill a police officer and then ambush others at the officer's funeral, Orr reports.

The indictment says that "according to the plan, the Hutaree would then attack law enforcement vehicles with Improvised Explosive Devices."

IEDs with Explosively Formed Projectiles, according to the indictment, constitute weapons of mass destruction.

"That is an amazing plan. When you think about a funeral filled with hundreds of police officers, all of them armed, being attacked by a band of militiamen, you know, one can only begin to imagine the kind of carnage that might have resulted," Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center told Orr.

The idea of attacking a police funeral was one of numerous scenarios discussed as ways to go after law enforcement officers, the indictment said. Other scenarios included a fake 911 call to lure an officer to his or her death, or an attack on the family of a police officer.

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired IEDs for what they expected would become a violent standoff with law enforcement personnel.

"It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more wide-spread uprising against the government," the indictment charges.

According to the group's Web site, The Hutaree "are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren't . . . Christ is our king of kings and top general of all things, for we are not of this world but we live in it."

The group claims that it is preparing for the return of the Antichrist and the Second Coming: "The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it."

Named in the indictment were:

David Brian Stone (whose aliases include "Joe Stonewall" and "Captain Hutaree"), 45 - the leader of the group;

Stone's wife, Tina Mae Stone, 44;

David Stone's two sons: Joshua Matthew Stone (a.k.a. "Josh"), 21, of Clayton, Mich., and David Brian Stone, Jr. (a.k.a. "Junior"), 19, of Adrian, Mich.;

Joshua John Clough (a.k.a. "Azzurlin," "Az," "Mouse" or "Jason Z. Charles"), 28, of Blissfield, Mich.;

Michael David Meeks (a.k.a. "Mikey"), 40 of Manchester, Mich.;

Thomas William Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.;

Kristopher T. Sickles (a.k.a. "Pale Horse"), 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; and

Jacob J. Ward (a.k.a. "Jake," "Nate," and "Guhighllo"), 33, of Huron, Ohio.

The indictment charges members of the group conspired "to levy war against the United States, (and) to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States."

The indictment states that the Hutaree's enemies included state and local law enforcement officials (whom it deemed to be "foot soldiers" for the Federal government), Federal employees, and anyone participating in the so-called "New World Order."

The indictment identified David Stone as the leader of the group, and alleged that he obtained information about building IEDs over the Internet and sought to have them constructed. Stone and his sons are also charged with obtaining materials to build such weapons and teaching other militia members how to build such weapons for use in criminal activity.

The grand jury also charged all nine defendants with carrying or possessing a firearm during a crime of violence on at least one occasion.

All seven defendants appearing in court on Monday requested to be represented by the federal defender's office - a department of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The case was being investigated by special agents of the FBI and the Michigan State Police.

U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said the Hutaree had planned a covert reconnaissance operation for April which potentially jeopardized the safety of the public, requiring intervention.

The arrests have dealt "a severe blow to a dangerous organization that today stands accused of conspiring to levy war against the United States," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.

Stone's ex-wife, Donna Stone, told The Associated Press before the arraignments that her former husband was to blame for pulling her son into the Hutaree movement. She said David Brian Stone legally adopted her son, David Brian Stone Jr., who is among those indicted. She said the marriage lasted about 10 years.

"It started out as a Christian thing," said Donna Stone, 44. "You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far. He dragged a lot of people with him."

Donna Stone said her ex-husband pulled her son into the movement. Another of David Stone's sons was arrested Monday night about 30 miles from the site of the weekend raid at a home where he was found with five other adults and a child.

Joshua Matthew Stone surrendered about 8 p.m., said Andrew Arena, head of the FBI's field office in Detroit. Stone's friends and relatives had recorded messages, urging him to surrender, that the FBI played over loudspeakers outside the home before he and the others came out willingly, Arena said.

"We're guessing he's been in there at least a day," Arena said.

Arena said the other adults at the home were taken into custody and will be interviewed. A determination will be made later about whether they might face charges, he said. The child was 1 or 2 years old, Arena said.

Michael Lackomar, a spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, told the Associated Press that one of his team leaders got a frantic phone call Saturday evening from members of the Hutaree, who said their property in southwest Michigan was being raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"They said they were under attack by the ATF and wanted a place to hide," Lackomar said. "My team leader said, 'No thanks.' "

The team leader was cooperating with the FBI on Sunday, Lackomar said.

He said SMVM wasn't affiliated with Hutaree,

FBI agents in Michigan swarmed a rural, wooded property Saturday evening in Adrian, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit. The same night in Hammond, Ind., law enforcement agents flooded a neighborhood, startling workers at a nearby pizzeria. And in Ohio authorities blocked off streets and raided two homes.

Outside Adrian, two ramshackle trailers sat side-by-side on Stone's property. A long gun leaned against a washing machine that sat in the yard (left), and on top of a nearby canister was another long gun.

Heidi Wood, who lives near the property, said Monday morning she hears gunshots "all the time."

Her mother, Phyllis Brugger, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said Stone and his family were known as having ties to militia. They would shoot guns and often wore camouflage, the women said.

"Everybody knew they were militia," Brugger said. "You don't mess with them."

Another neighbor, Jane Cattell, said she came home from the movies Saturday night and a helicopter was circling above, its spotlight illuminating her house. She and her sister, Sarah Holtz, wouldn't say who lived in the home but said they knew them from riding their horses past their house.

There were rumors about ties to a militia, but Holtz said she knew nothing of that from her interaction with them.

"They're your average, nice neighbors," Holtz said.