CHECHNYA: MASKHADOV ESCAPES ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE скачать в хорошем качестве

CHECHNYA: MASKHADOV ESCAPES ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE

(21 Mar 1999) Natural Sound Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov narrowly escaped an attempt on his life on Sunday when a powerful bomb exploded just seconds after the presidential cortege passed by. The blast comes just two days after a marketplace bomb slaughtered 51 people in the neighbouring Caucasian republic of Northern Ossetia. In Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, Sunday's bomb left a huge crater and broken glass in nearby buildings. There were reports of serious injuries to bystanders. Maskhadov, who has survived previous attempts on his life since becoming president of Chechnya in early 1997, was returning from a meeting with the republic's oil chiefs. His car had already passed the bomb location when the explosion occurred. Chechen authorities claimed the assassination attempt on president Aslan Maskhadov was carried out by opposition warlords trying to prevent the president from meeting Russian premier Yevgeny Primakov. These warlords, claim security officials, are trained by Russian special forces. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "At the army base in Mosdok (just over the border from Chechnya) Russian secret services train (opposition) Chechens, so called traitors to our nation...As you can see this has just happened, everything will be clear later." SUPER CAPTION: Ibrahim Khultygov, head of the national security service In Vladikavkaz, Russian interior minister Sergei Stepashin called the assault on Maskhadov a link in the same chain of events as the deadly marketplace explosion. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...