Bomb truck in Chechnya death toll rises to 52

MOSCOW – The death toll of a kamikaze truck in the Chechen village of Znamenskoie rose to 52 dead. Among the victims of yesterday ‘s attack are ten children and 22 women. The data, updated by the Ministry of Civil Protection, confirms 87 wounded hospitalized, of which 57 are in serious condition. This last figure, unchanged from yesterday, makes it clear that the new victims are those whose bodies continue to be extracted from the rubble. Twenty-three people were extracted alive from the ruins of buildings.

And today the Chechen guerrillas have invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to open negotiations to end the bloody war in Chechnya. A spokesman for the independence government of Aslan Maskhadov told ANSA that the only way is “a truce” and the opening of talks for a “political solution”. Roman Khalilov, spokesman for the foreign ministry of the Maskhadov government, said that “only peace talks with the only legitimate and democratically elected president, Maskhadov, and a real political solution can resolve the conflict”.

Yesterday Maskhadov’s personal spokesman, Salanbek Maigov, had denied any role for the Chechen president and the forces under his command in the explosion of the bomb truck. Khalilov stressed that “the destruction of the building that housed the secret services where hundreds of innocent Chechens were tortured and killed” as a testimony to the “climate of impunity” of the Russian forces in Chechnya, is an act that “confirms as only talks by peace “can” resolve the conflict and free both Chechnya and Russia from this vicious circle of violence and destruction “. The spokesman therefore appeals to Russia to “introduce a truce and open real peace talks”, and asks the European Union and member countries to “offer their mediation”

May 13, 2003