Guerrillas twice crossed the Chechen border and seized villages in the southern Russian region of Dagestan.
The location of the second explosion outlined the breadth of the zone that terrorists might choose. One officer of an anti-terrorist unit said hopelessly: "Although organizing a comprehensive search for bombs across Moscow is extremely difficult, it is theoretically possible. Organizing such a hunt across one-sixth of the world is equivalent in difficulty and expense to a flight to Mars."
Theories on the Attacks
The location of this bomb also serves to support one of the most compelling theories regarding those behind the attacks.
On the night of last Sunday, after three serious explosions in less than two weeks:
The explosion in the shopping arcade at Manege, near the Kremlin, which killed one and injured 40.
The bomb that destroyed a military housing building in Buynaksk, Dagestan, killing 64 people.
The explosion of an apartment building in Moscow on Guryanova Street, which killed 94 people.
A respectable commentator on the situation in Chechnya, Vyacheslav Izmailov, stated on national television that he knows who arranged the explosions.
If he is to be believed, he confirms the widespread suspicion that the terrorism was organized by Chechen extremists.
Alleged Conspiracy
Sources in Chechnya told Izmailov that about 30 people were recruited by Khattab in Chechnya on August 18—exactly after he and Chechen commander Shamil Basayev suffered a temporary defeat in Dagestan.
They were divided into two teams, and each person was offered $50,000 for participating in the bombing of targets in Moscow, Dagestan, Saint Petersburg, and Rostov-on-Don.
Each team was given several hundred thousand dollars to buy what they needed and to rent premises to hide explosives there.
A more detailed description of the alleged conspiracy and information about its sources was handed over to the FSB.
Aftermath and Investigations
The morning after Izmailov's revelations, another apartment building in Moscow was wiped off the face of the earth, again in a faceless working-class suburb of the capital, killing 118 people—almost everyone inside the house.
By the end of the week, the police had achieved significant results:
A huge Mercedes truck used to bring in more than 11 tons of explosives was discovered.
Two large secret caches of explosives, believed to be from the same source, were found.
In one Moscow house, officers found 76 bags of dynamite, as well as several remote detonation devices.
Detectives suggested that this would have been enough for at least two more explosions somewhere in the capital.
A massive sweep conducted by the security services across the country led to 11,000 arrests—most of which are not related to terrorism.
About 30 of those caught in this hunt are suspected of involvement in the bombs:
Timur Dakhkilgov, 32, and Bekmars Sautiev, 40, both natives of Chechnya, were arrested on suspicion of involvement of one kind or another.
To date, no formal charges have been brought against either.
Claims of Responsibility and Security Concerns
A previously unknown group called the Dagestan Liberation Army claimed responsibility—via an anonymous phone call—for the explosions in Moscow and Buynaksk, but there is a hypothesis that it does not actually exist and was used by those who bear actual responsibility to divert suspicion from themselves.
There is a real fear that Russia's dramatically weakened security services are unable to cope with the task of identifying those behind the terror campaign.
Sergei Goncharov, a former high-ranking officer of the elite Russian anti-terrorist corps "Alpha," told the "Observer" newspaper that the constant reform of Russia's anti-terrorist units, along with chronic underfunding since the collapse of the USSR, has made it very difficult for them to perform even routine operations.
He stated: "Without agents and paid informants, you cannot prevent explosions. But Russia's security services are not well enough funded, and the powerful network of KGB informants and agents no longer exists."
President Yeltsin's administration has contacted Ireland, Israel, America, and Great Britain over the past week, asking for help from experts who have dealt with this branch of terrorism.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave government agencies three days to come up with plans to strengthen security in the transport system, communications, power stations, and residential areas.
At the end of the week, he actually backed down, and that was all the government could do, and he called on citizens to protect themselves.