The Russian airplane bombings of August 2004 was a terrorist attack on two domestic Russian passenger aircraft at around 23:00 on August 24, 2004. Both planes had flown out of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow.

Note: All times quoted below are local times, UTC +4. All events occurred in the same time zone.

Flights

Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303

The first to crash was Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303, a Tu-134 airplane, registered RA-65080, which had been in service since 1977. The plane was flying from Moscow to Volgograd. It left Domodedovo International Airport at 22:30. Communication with the plane was lost at 22:56 while it was flying over Tula Oblast, 180 km south-east of Moscow. The remains of the airplane were found on the ground several hours later. Witnesses on the ground claim to have seen a strong explosion on the plane before it crashed.

34 passengers and 9 crew members were onboard the plane. All of them died in the crash.

Siberia Airlines Flight 1047

Just minutes after the first crash, Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, which had left Domodedovo International Airport at 21:35, disappeared from the radar screens and crashed. The Tu-154 airplane, registered RA-85556, which had been in service since 1982, was flying from Moscow to Sochi. According to an unnamed government source of the Russian news agency Interfax, the plane had broadcast a hijack warning, while flying over Rostov Oblast at 22:59.

The plane disappeared from radar screens shortly after that and crashed. 38 passengers and 8 crew members were onboard the plane. All died.

The debris of the airplane was found on the morning of August 25, 2004 9 km from Glubokoye village in Kamenec-Shahtiskiy Rayon of Rostov Oblast.

Investigation and aftermath

The two almost simultaneous crashes caused speculations about terrorism. President Vladimir Putin immediately ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to investigate the crashes. By August 28, the FSB had found traces of the explosive hexogen in the remains of both planes. Itar-Tass news agency reported on August 30, 2004, "without a shadow of a doubt", the FSB security service said that "both airplanes were blown up as a result of a terrorist attack".

A previously unknown group called the Islambouli Brigades claimed responsibility; the truth of those claims remains uncertain. The Islambouli Brigades have also claimed that five of their members were on each plane; experts are skeptical about the possibility of (and the need for) so many terrorists on board.

The bombings preceded other bloody attacks in Russia soon afterwards: on August 31, 2004 a bomb killed 10 at a Moscow subway station, and then the Beslan hostage crisis began on September 1, 2004 which would leave over 335 people dead, many of them children.

The subsequent investigation has found out that the bombs were triggered by two female Chechen suicide bombers, Grozny residents Satsita Dzhebirkhanova (Siberia Airlines Flight 1047) and Amanta Nagayeva (Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303). On the day of the bombings they and two male Chechens accompanying them were arrested in the airport due to lack of proper ID and transferred into the custody of police captain Mikhail Artamonov to be searched for weapons and for identification. However, Artamonov let them go without doing the search or checking anything. It is unclear whether he was bribed by the two women or was just lazy. He has been charged with criminal negligence. According to investigators, a ticket seller, Armen Aratyunyan, sold women the tickets without getting proper IDs for a bribe of approximately US$170, and helped Dzhebirkhanova to bribe the ticket checking clerk, Nikolai Korenkov, with $30, so she was allowed on board without a proper ID. On April 15, 2005, Aratyunyan and Korenkov were convicted of giving and taking the bribe respectively. Because of serious consequences of the bribe, they have been sentenced to 1.5 years in settlement colony each (settlement colony convicts have more rights and privileges than people in regular colony). At that point, they have already spent 8 months in prison awaiting the verdict, so they will be eligible for parole in May 2005.

Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the bombings in an open letter published on the Chechen separatists' websites on September 17, 2004. He claimed that the airplane bombings cost him US$4,000 in total. He has also denied the Islambouli Brigade's claims.

External links

• Photos of the crashed Tu-134
• Photos of the crashed Tu-154
• Investigators probe Russia crashes - CNN
• Traces of explosives found - CNN
• 'Terrorist' Bombs Brought Down Russian Planes - Reuters (August 30, 2004)