In Chechnya, power agents accuse Umarov and Gakaev of organizing recent terror acts

According to Chechen power bodies, the triple terror act involving militants-suicide bombers, committed in the city of Grozny at night on Tuesday, August 30, was organized by Dokku Umarov, the leader of the North-Caucasian armed underground, and Muslim Gakaev, one of field commanders.

"Law enforcement bodies possessed information that the leaders of the bandit underground Umarov and Gakaev had sent a group of suicide bombers to Grozny. The suspected terrorists were kept under surveillance; and the law enforcement agents prepared a special operation to neutralize them. Unfortunately, the plan could not be brought to the end due to a number of situational factors, which resulted in such huge casualties," a source from the republic's power bodies told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the source, the first suicide bomber blew himself up in the area of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Street, near the cafe "Seda", located in about 150 meters off the building of Chechen Parliament.

According to local eyewitnesses of the incident, the number of victims and casualties could be much higher.

"My friend and I just drove home from our relatives, when near 'Hippodromny' (this is how Grozny residents call the district near Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Street, where the suicide bombers' terror acts were committed) the first explosion occurred. Many agents from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and other services gathered there; as well as civilians who lived in nearby houses. Policemen urged people to disperse, but they wouldn't listen to them. Then, after a while, when my friend and I were about the leave the place, a man in military uniform suddenly rushed into the crowd, he was shooting in all directions; and the second explosion occurred at once. A panic set in, people began running in all directions. However, when policemen and other servicemen began helping injured people, the shooting resumed; and the third suicide bomber blew himself up. Militants said that 12 persons were killed and 20 or 26 others wounded. It was a very scary picture," says Isa I., a resident of Grozny.

Investigators have already identified two suicide bombers, who triggered explosions in the Lenin District of Grozny on August 30, as Magomed Dashaev, 22, a native of the city of Urus-Martan, and Adlan Khamidov, 21, a native of the village of Starye Atagi, a student of the Petroleum Institute.