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Izvestiya Views Nalchik Gunmen's Military Transport Hijack Plan Theory Report by Nikolay Gritchin in Stavropol and Igor Naydenov in Nalchik: "Basayev Decides To Be Bin Ladin. Terrorists in Nalchik May Have Been Planning To Hijack Military Aircraft"
Izvestiya (Moscow Edition)
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
The theory that the terrorists were seriously intending to hijack in Nalchik a military transport with a friend-or-foe system and direct it at a strategic facility has found some corroboration. First, the Nalchik airport deputy security chief, detained some days before the gunmen's attack, admitted that he had collaborated with terrorists and given them a plan of the airport. Second, back in June special services came by a video tape from Basayev's archive, shot during an air-show at Domodedovo. It paid particular attention to the tactical and technical data of military transports and helicopters. Third, Shamil Basayev admitted himself yesterday that the gunmen had sustained major losses due to an information leak. If you assume that the gunmen did intend to capture an aircraft, but their plan was thwarted at the last moment, the actions of those who attacked the city become clear.
You will recall that on 14 October Izvestiya published a theory by its columnist, Chechenskoye Obshchestvo editor Timur Aliyev, who cited an FSB (Federal Security Service) source, saying that Shamil Basayev and his group intended to hijack at Nalchik airport a military transport with a friend-or-foe system, in order to attack strategic facilities with half an tonne of explosives.
Izvestiya has ascertained that there are serious grounds for this theory. The gunmen's attack on Nalchik was preceded by a number of events. First, a man close to Kabardino-Balkar gunmen's leader Anzor Astemirov was detained. He was found to be in possession of a flash card containing photographs of city policy departments, other security departments, and an airport plan. Law enforcement realized that the gunmen were planning something big.
In order to establish where the gunmen had gotten the plan, the police instructed Nalchik airport security to check all staff. Anzor Zhamgurazov, the 33-year-old aircraft security service deputy chief. Zhamgurazov cracked pretty quickly. He said he had prepared the plan at the request of his cousin. Zaur Shogenov (namesake of Kabardino-Balkar Internal Affairs Minister Khachim Shogenov).
He had told him that Anzor Astemirov and his associates needed it in order to be able to destroy "infidels'" helicopters which would fly to Nalchik when the jihad began.
The operation to detain Shogenov was conducted by the organized crime administration. A meeting was arranged with the cousins in the square outside the airport. On meeting his cousin, Anzor straight away told him that they had both been exposed and he told him to give himself up. Zaur refused. He tried to resist detention by throwing a grenade at the officers and then ran toward some garages. But he did not get very far -- some 200m meters. Wounded in the leg and shoulder, he was taken to hospital, where he died 24 hours later.
Interestingly, on the way to the hospital he confirmed that he had been acting on orders from Astemirov, who, according to him, was preparing to carry out a major terrorist act in the republic.
Soon, on 9 October, a cache of 500 kg of explosives was found at a ferroconcrete products plant. Assuming that the military transport hijack theory is true, it appears that as a result of the special services' actions the gunmen had been deprived of a key man, without whom it would be difficult to take the airport, and a large amount of explosives, without which the act would be ineffective. Moreover, following Zhamgurazov's arrest and the discovery of the explosives, airport security was beefed up considerably. In an Izvestiya interview this was confirmed by Nalchik airport aircraft security chief Zaur Marzaliyev. Cab drivers working in the square outside the airport confirm that airport security was tightened a few days before the attack on Nalchik. "On roughly 10 October the airport was surrounded by the military. Armored personnel carriers were stationed at all crossroads," they said.
Interestingly, Shamil Basayev, in his Internet statement on Monday, puts the gunmen's heavy losses down to a major leak of information five days before the operation and the fact that additional forces were brought into Nalchik. Basayev claims that the operation had been planned a long time before, so the gunmen were not going to abandon it. The No 1 terrorist gives not explanation of the aim of the gunmen's attack.
The fact that the gunmen were planning to capture an aircraft or helicopter is also indicated by the following. When law enforcement agencies came by Shamil Basayev's archive during a special operation
in Karabulak in June, they found, among other things, a video tape showing an air show at Domodedovo.
The tape was not dated, but the event took place in the summer. Judging by the very occasional voices, it was shot by a young man and a young woman. There are many people who ordinary cameras and video cameras at the air show. The two would not have attracted attention. They focused on the vital systems of a big transport, probably the An-124, took pictures in the cabin, dwelling on the communications along the aircraft and in the bay. It was the only large aircraft they were interested in.
They were also interested in light aircraft -- 2-8-seater turboprops capable of landing at and taking off from small strips. They filmed a Po-2, An-2, Sigma, Koala, and others, always stopping at stands showing specifications: capacity, range, altitude, speed, and so on. Together with the light aircraft, they often stopped at Russian helicopters: Ka-226-t, Ka-115, Mi-8, Mi-26T. In the cabin of an Mi-26T the young man asked, pointing at a tank: "Is that the fuel tank?" A specialist explains: "It is the reserve tank, to provide extra range. When flying short distances, it and much else are removed from the cabin, so the helicopter can carry 80 passengers." They asked about the crew. In an aircraft with "Airborne First Aid" on its side the cameraman's companion asked the specialist whether the aircraft flew to Chechnya and whether operations could be carried out actually on the aircraft. The specialist said that they had not yet flown to Chechnya, but probably would soon. And the aircraft had been adapted for operations on board. In one aircraft cabin the cameraman's companion sits in the pilot's seat and comes into shot. She is wearing dark glasses and a hat; her hair is down, and she has stuck on a funny round nose.
Assuming that the gunmen needed the Nalchik airport plan in order to destroy "infidels'" helicopters, why did they need tactical and technical data on a military transport and the outward appearance of its cargo section? The information about the hijack of a military transport looks persuasive also because the hijack of a passenger airliner would prevent the gunmen from using it to attack a strategic facility. On March Colonel General Yuriy Solovyev, commander of troops at Special Command (former Moscow Air Force and Air Defense District), said that a decision allowing civil aircraft hijacked by terrorists to be shot down over Moscow was expected in April.
"At the moment the law allows us to use weapons only against enemy combat aircraft, whereas we now face a new threat -- the hijacking by terrorists of civil airliners carrying passengers for the purpose of aiming them at administrative, industrial, and military facilities in Moscow," Yuriy Solovyev said.
The general said "expected," but the terrorists took the hint. That is why an aircraft with a friend-or-foe system was needed, one that is much harder to shoot down.
A flight of military transports is permanently based at Nalchik airport. It comprises at least three aircraft.
Moreover, it is no problem loading half a tonne of explosives into a military transport: You just drive the vehicle into the cargo bay. Of course, in order to carry out this infernal plan successfully, the terrorists have to operate secretly for as long as possible. And this means they need someone inside the airport -- to help them hijack the aircraft and fly away without any fuss. Particularly as military aircraft can fly irregularly.
Assuming that a hijacked was planned for Nalchik airport and the special services succeeded in preventing it, the actions of the gunmen who attacked the city finally become clear. Evidently, the terrorists' leaders realized that, having uncovered their plot and arrested a key man, airport security and the special services would soon reach all the remaining people working under cover. Evidently, the gunmen choose to break cover before they were all arrested one by one. It is conceivable too that the gunmen had already planned to attack the city as a cover for the main terrorist act -- the hijack. In the event of a massive attack by gunmen, tens of military aircraft would have taken to the air. Amid the chaos, it would have been easier for the terrorists to make themselves scarce in the air.
There is another possible theory: The attack on Nalchik was planned as a reserve operation. As Izvestiya wrote yesterday, in the case of the attack on Beslan the gunmen had a reserve group ready to seize a school in the village of Nesterovskaya.
Meanwhile, Sergey Prokopov, assistant to Deputy General Prosecutor Nikolay Shepel, told Izvestiya that the investigation does not entertain the theory of an attempted hijack by the gunmen. "If that information were available, everyone would have known about it a long time ago. It would have been convenient for us: We would have been able to explain the gunmen's aim and show their true face."
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