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Terror suspects friends
30/08/2004 21:18 - (SA)
Moscow - Two Chechen women suspected of blowing up two airliners were friends who disappeared from the Caucasus with two other women just days before the planes went down, a Russian newspaper reported on Monday.
The suspects, identified as Amnat Nagayeva, 30, and Satsita Jebirkhanova, 37, shared a flat in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, the daily Izvestia said.
Russian officials have said the remains of two females believed to be Nagayeva and Jebirkhanova were being closely scrutinised for several reasons, notably that they were far more damaged and widely scattered at the crash sites than others.
The daily Izvestia, meanwhile, tracked down members of their families and in an extensive investigative feature quoted them and a local official expressing incredulity that the pair was responsible for the disaster on August 24.
"I don't believe that she was on the plane," the paper quoted Isa Nagayev, one of the suspect's older brothers as saying.
'Never flew on a plane in her life'
"I think she got lost somewhere and that terrorists used her passport."
Nagayeva's mother offered similar comments about her daughter.
"She never flew on a plane in her life. She doesn't know how to go the airport, doesn't know how to make bombs," she said.
A local Chechen interior ministry official also quoted in the article confirmed the identity of the two women, but said they were "clean".
He rejected media reports that Nagayeva was the bereaved sister of a Chechen rebel fighter.
"This is unsubstantiated," the unnamed official said.
"A certain Nagayev was seized by my men about a year ago ... and he has no relation with Amnat."
However, they failed to provide any other explanation for their sudden disappearance and present whereabouts.
In addition to the physical state of the remains, investigators said they were particularly interested in the pair because they were the only passengers that no family or relatives have yet to claim.
Fresh detail on their backgrounds
Despite the interviews with the suspects' families, the Izvestia article did not say whether they had been asked to confirm the identity of the corpses in question.
It did, however, offer fresh detail on the backgrounds of the two main suspects, saying they had earned a living until recently selling clothing in Grozny and travelled monthly to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
On August 22, two days before the planes went down, the women were reportedly seen at a bus station in Khasavyurt, a city in neighbouring Dagestan, where they boarded a bus and departed for an unknown destination.
- AFP
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