'Black widows' return
2004-09-01 20:44
Moscow - The mid-air destruction of two Russian passenger airliners and a suicide bombing outside a busy Moscow subway station have revived a spectre that had lain quiet for a year - that of the so-called black widows of Chechnya.
Their first known attack took place on June 7, 2000 at an army base at Alkhan-Yurt, about 20km southwest of Grozny, capital of the troubled Russian republic.
The authorities admitted two deaths and Chechen secessionists claimed 27, but later attacks would prove bloodier, while the appearance of the young suicide bombers, clad in black chadors - the long robes worn by some Muslim women - created its own kind of fear and revulsion.
The Russian media dubbed them black widows after the secessionists' former spokesperson in Moscow, Salambek Mayigov, said that most of them had lost husbands or sons in combat against Russian troops and were driven by a desire for vengeance.
A similar claim was made in a book published in Russia late last year under the title "Betrothed of Allah", which asserted that one in 10 of the women was ideologically motivated while the others were brainwashed by warlords and often drugged.
At first, their actions were confined to the territory of Chechnya itself, after the Russian government sent thousands of soldiers into the republic during the second Chechen war.
Theatre attack
The capture of more than 800 hostages in the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow on October 23, 2002 marked a new level of involvement for the black widows, 19 of whom - wearing explosive belts under their chadors - joined 22 male colleagues in a commando squad.
All the guerrillas were killed by Russian troops who pumped a powerful knockout gas into the building before storming it to end a 57-hour siege.
The gas also killed 127 hostages, while two others were shot dead.
In May and June the following year, black widows took part in two attacks in Chechnya and one in neighbouring North Ossetia which claimed a total of about 100 lives and wounded hundreds more.
The interior ministry of the pro-Russian administration in Chechnya asserted that secessionist leader Shamil Basayev, who had claimed responsibility for two of the attacks, had a specially trained squad of 36 black widows.
On July 5 last year, two Chechen women killed themselves and 15 other people at a rock concert in Moscow.
Two others have been blamed for the almost simultaneous explosions which destroyed two Russian airliners on August 24, killing a total of 90 passengers and crew.
The authorities say traces of explosives were found on the bodies of two women and that no relatives have come forward to claim them.
- SAPA