2 Russian Planes Crash

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russian search and rescue officials have found the crash sites of two Russian jetliners that went down in mysterious circumstances after leaving Moscow, Russia's Emergency Ministry says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Federal Security Service to investigate the near-simultaneous incidents, Russian authorities said.

As many as 94 passengers and crew were reported aboard the two aircraft. There was no report of survivors from either plane Wednesday, authorities said.

About 2,000 people are combing the crash sites, the Emergency Ministry said. A number of bodies have been recovered at each location.

The first plane, a Volga-Avia Express Tupolev 134, was en route to Volgograd, in southern Russia, from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport -- the city's main airport for domestic flights -- with 34 passengers and a crew of eight.

It disappeared from radar at 10:56 p.m. (2:56 p.m. ET) Tuesday, and its wreckage was found about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Moscow near Tula, according to the Emergency Ministry.

"First I heard a roaring noise as if a plane was driving by my house," a witness said.

"Then there were loud noises as if somebody was knocking on my window. I even went outside to check. There was nobody there so I went to bed."

Other witnesses told the Russian news agency Interfax they saw the plane explode before it crashed, and the Emergency Ministry said there were no survivors among the 34 passengers and eight-member crew.

The second plane -- a Siberia Tupolev 154 with between 46 and 52 people on board, according to different reports -- was about 100 miles (160 km) from Rostov-on-Don when it dropped off radar screens at 10:59 p.m., the state news agency Novosti reported.

Interfax quoted a Russian security source who said the Tu-154 transmitted a signal indicating a hijacking was under way before the plane crashed.

The source also told Interfax a criminal investigation has been opened in the case after an air traffic controller reported receiving information that an attack had been made on the crew of the second airliner.

That jet also took off from Domodedovo Airport and was bound for the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, an Emergency Ministry spokeswoman reported.

The crash sites are about 450 miles (724 km) apart.

Search-and-rescue teams reported early Wednesday that they had spotted a large fire burning near the plane's last reported position.

Rescue officials arrived on the scene at about 8:15 a.m. (12:15 a.m. ET), finding bodies scattered around the crash site, then later discovering one of the plane's flight recorders.

Government officials offered no explanations for the crashes. But Russian authorities said they had increased security at airports following an explosion at a Moscow bus station earlier Tuesday, which injured three people.

"If this were just one, you would look toward some sort of aircraft issue," Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told CNN. "But with two of them going down so close together, it's awfully ominous."

The incidents also took place just days before a regional election in the rebellious southern territory of Chechnya, where Russian troops have battled separatist guerrillas for the past five years.

Chechen separatists have been blamed for numerous bombings and other attacks in Russia in recent years, including the seizure of hundreds of hostages at a Moscow theater that ended with more than 100 hostages dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe...ash/index.html

Seems like it's not a question of if it's a terrorist act, but if it's Chechen or Al Quaida terrorists.

I'll bet it was Iraq.

Lets kick their ass !!!!

On serious note, its really sad. I saw the news yesterday evening, and the fact that both planes crashed almost silmultaniously is definately suspicious.

At least they didnt hit anything, like in 911 case.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's security services said on Friday they had found traces of explosives among the wreckage of one of two Russian planes which crashed within moments of each other, calling it a terrorist attack.

The FSB declined to comment on a claim by an Islamist group on the Internet that its followers had hijacked both planes and brought them down, killing at least 89, to avenge the killing of Muslims in Russia's rebel Chechnya (news - web sites) province.

"During the examination of the wreckage of the Tu-154 plane traces of explosives were found," an FSB spokeswoman said.

"The investigation process produced information which has allowed us to identify a number of people with possible links to the terrorist act that was committed on Tu-154."

She said the explosive was of a type used in some previous attacks blamed on Chechen separatists, including the 1999 apartment bombings which killed about 300 people.

It was a substance called hexogen, more widely known as RDX -- a powder which when mixed with TNT is used as an explosive element in artillery shells and torpedoes.

She said she there was no fresh information about the other plane, a Tu-134.

The Islamist group, calling itself the Islambouli Brigade, said five mujahideen had hijacked both planes, according to an Internet Web Site. The Arabic-language statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, threatened more attacks.

"Russia's slaughtering of Muslims is still continuing and will not stop except with a bloody war. Our mujahideen were able with God's help to deal a first strike which will be followed by other operations in a campaign aimed at helping our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim countries enduring Russia's atheism," the statement said.

CHECHEN ELECTIONS

An FSB spokesman said: "We do not comment on these kind of statements without further details."

The Tu-154, bound for Sochi on the Black Sea crashed near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, just moments after a Tu-134 flying to Volgograd crashed near the town of Tula, south of Moscow. Both had set off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

Investigators were reported to be pursuing new leads -- tracing the backgrounds of two passengers, whose surnames would indicate they were of Chechen descent. Neither had been enquired about and they could have been possible suicide bombers.

Each was on one of the planes.

"This could not fail to raise suspicion among the members of the (investigative) commission and workers in the Interior Ministry and FSB security services," a source at the investigative commission told Itar-Tass news agency.

Officials have so far refused to blame the double air crash on Chechens -- long accused by Moscow of waging a terror campaign in Russia. Some fear the double plane crash was part of a new wave of terrorist acts ahead of a presidential election in Chechnya, where Russians have been fighting rebels for a decade.

Rebels launched a major raid in the regional capital last weekend and threatened more ahead of Sunday's presidential poll. Moderate Chechen separatists deny any part in the crashes.

I figured it might have something to do (direct or indirect) with Chechnya as soon as I saw the topic. It's pretty sad they just blew up all of those people, maybe it's time Russia gave up Chechnya, their military isn't up for the task and it's causing a lot of domestic terrorism.