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The Guardian
Russian police kill terror suspect in Winter Olympics security crackdown
Reuters in Moscowtheguardian.com, Tuesday 21 January 2014 14.37 GMT
A leaflet seen in a Sochi hotel depicting two women wanted by police. Photograph: Natalya Vasilyeva/AP
Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in a shootout in Russia‘s North Caucasus before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the national anti-terror committee has said.
The operation against Eldar Magatov, a suspect in numerous attacks on Russian targets, at a house where he had taken refuge in the Dagestan region was part of an intensifying security clampdown as the Games approach.
President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organising a successful Olympics and tightened security nationwide after insurgents who hope to create an Islamist state in the North Caucasus threatened to attack the Games.
Magatov led an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, the committee said. Dagestan has become the focal point of the insurgency, which is rooted in two separatist wars in neighbouring Chechnya.
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In Sochi itself, residents say posters have appeared of a woman from Dagestan whom the Russian authorities suspect could be planning a suicide bombing. Putin has said Russia can cope with the security threat.
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abc news
Terror ‘Surprise’ for Sochi Olympics? Purported Suicide Bombers’ New Threat
By BRIAN ROSS and JAMES GORDON MEEK
Citing a new “surprise package” for Russia and Olympic spectators, Islamist militants in the North Caucasus =Sunday launched a new threat to the Sochi Olympics with a purported “martyrdom” video by two suicide bombers who attacked a transit hub 400 miles away.
The video posted on a Chechen extremist site considered a credible platform for militant statements featured two unidentified men before the black flag of jihad and cradling AKMS rifles.
The duo — dressed in street clothes and without the usual trappings of jihadis — casually explained that Russians and those attending the Winter Games next month will not be safe as long as forces sent by President Vladimir Putin occupy the North Caucasus region near Sochi, Russia.
“We’ll have a surprise package for you,” one of the men said in the militants’ video. “And those tourists that will come to you, for them, too, we have a surprise. If it happens [the Olympics], we’ll have a surprise for you. This is for all the Muslim blood that is shed every day around the world, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, all around the world. This will be our revenge.”
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CNN
Video threat emerges amid security concerns over Sochi Winter Olympics
CNN) — A video surfaces threatening the Winter Olympics. Russia’s President vows the Games will be safe. Some U.S. lawmakers warn that they won’t be.
One thing was clear as debate over the situation surged on Sunday: security is a top concern, less than three weeks away from the competition.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/19/world/europe/russia-putin-sochi/index.html?sr=tw012014sochi930a
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THERE WERE TWO SUICIDE BOMBINGS RECENTLY.
BBC
30 December 2013 Last updated at 14:52 GMT
Volgograd blasts: Second suicide bomb hits Russia city
The blast took place at a busy time on a busy route, as Daniel Sandford explains.
At least 14 people have been killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd, investigators say.
The blast comes a day after 17 people died in another suicide attack at the central station in the city.
Security has been tightened at railway stations and airports across Russia.
Moscow is concerned that militants could be ramping up violence in the run-up to the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city of Sochi in February.
The Olympics venue is close to Russia’s volatile north Caucasus region, and the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford says it was always risky staging the Games so near to the troubled republics of Chechnya and Dagestan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25546477
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CNN
Official: Suicide bomber kills 16 at Russian train station
Police: Suicide bomber triggered blast
Moscow (CNN) — A massive explosion at a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd killed at least 16 people, including one police officer, the Investigative Committee of Russia said on its website Sunday.
The head of the committee, Vladimir Markin, said 16 people had been killed and 34 people were injured, including a 9-year-old girl.
The suspected female suicide bomber set off the device before she could pass through a metal detector, Markin said, citing available information at the time.
Later, Markin told Russian news agency Ria Novosti the remains of the bomber will undergo DNA testing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/29/world/europe/russia-train-station-explosion/
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