I'm sure you've all heard of these two and if you haven't then you need to seriously do some research... Those would be the Beslan School Siege and the Moscow Nord-Ost Siege.
These two acts have essentially changed the nature of counter-terrorism protocols worldwide.
And with the suspected perpetrators of the Boston Marathon Bombing having been identified as Chechen, I would call it not only imprudent, but downright foolish to assume (at this point) that these individuals don't have ties, regardless of how loose, to some of the same Chechen organizations that perpetrated the acts that put Chechnya, on the map if you will.
We'll go chronologically:
House of Culture (DK) of State Ball-Bearing Plant Number 1
Moscow, Russia
23 October 2002
-On 23 October 2002, approximately 40-50 armed Chechens, claiming allegiance to the militant, Islamist, separatist movement within Chechnya, burst into the theater during Act II of a sold-out performance of Nord-Ost. Between 850-900 subjects were taken hostage and it is believed that approximately 90 escaped the initial seizing of the theater.
-The subjects a videotape of their demands including, but not limited to, the withdrawal of Russian forces and government entities from Chechnya.
-All hostages were contained within the auditorium and the orchestra pit was used as a lavatory.
-Cell Phone conversations reflected that the attackers were armed with firearms, grenades, mines, and various improvised explosive devices.
-The attackers released between 150-200 hostages the first night. These were mostly pregnant women, children, Muslims, some foreign born theater goers, and those needing medical attention. Two women escaped.
-The subjects claimed willingness to kill 10 hostages for any one of their own killed by security forces.
-More demands were made on Day 2 and eventually 39 more hostages were released.
-A burst hot water pipe in the theater caused ground floor flooding which the terrorists took as a provocation. The Russian FSB later admitted to using the sewer for listening purposes.
-Four hostages were shot in two incidents, around dusk and just after midnight, on Day Three.
-On 26 October, the Special Operations Forces onsite (FSB Spetsnaz Alfa, Vympel, MVD SOBR) launched a raid preceded by a deployment of incapacitating gas around 0500.
-As the gas took effect, those Chechens who were equipped with protective masks opened fire blindly on the Russian positions outside.
-It took nearly 2 and a half hours for Russian Security Forces to secure the building with many sporadic gun battles occurring throughout that time.
-There is a debate on how many hostages were killed, some sources citing 118 and others as high as 204, by a mix of Chechen actions and the gas used by the Russians. All 40 terrorists were killed. Over 700 subjects were injured to include injuries from the gas, which is believed to be a weaponized fentanyl derivative.
The mass casualties of this incident are what makes it most notable.
School Number One
Beslan, North Ossetia
1 September 2004
-32 Heavily armed men and 2 women wearing suicide belts storm the school at approximately 0930. 1200 hostages are taken. 8 people are killed during the storming, 10 males killed immediately afterward, and approximately 50 people escaped.
-At approximately 1000, the subjects corralled their hostages in the gym and began emplacing improvised explosive devices around the building. Inside the gym, explosives are placed over the hostages heads to increase human damage and tripwires are emplaced throughout the facility.
-The terrorists tell first responders through a released hostage that they will kill 10 hostages should authorities cut the power or comms, 20 if one of their own is wounded, 50 if one of their own is killed, and all hostages should 5 tangos meet the reaper.
-13 additional hostages escape from a boiler room as Spetsnaz commandos take up positions outside.
-On 2 September the hostages released 26 hostages, nursing babies and their mothers.
-On the 2nd, the suspects also fired 2 RPG's at responders.
-On the 3rd, the terrorists allow medical workers into the school but fire on them during their ingress around noon.
-Around 1300, two explosive devices detonate, killing a great many hostages and partially destroying a wall. This IS BELIEVED to have been triggered by a sniper engaging a terrorist on a dead-man switch.
-At 1310, the Spetsnaz forces move in.
-1330, Gym roof collapses killing many more hostages.
-1345, A group of the attackers flee the school with Spetsnaz commandos in hot pursuit.
-1525, the fleeing terrorists hole up in a home nearby which is surrounded and destroyed by Russian T-72 tanks.
-1555, 3 perpetrators remain in the basement using hostages as human shields. All are neutralized by 1850, with 3 reported as taken alive around 2200.
The extensive use of IED's, tenacity, and sheer brutality of the terrorists in question shows the Chechen extremist movement to be a major world player with regards to terrorism.
Now, this is NOT intended to show that the individuals who perpetrated the bombing at the Boston Marathon are linked to these groups in any way, it is merely to show that with bombings being perpetrated by Chechens on US Soil, that perhaps we could be the scene of the next Nord-Ost or Beslan. I'm concerned anytime individuals linked to a body where known terror cells exist start committing acts of terror on our soil... whether they're Chechen, homegrown extremist "militia" (I use that term solely because many of the confirmed extremist groups use the term) groups, or Hamas, Hizb'allah, or even Al-Qa'ida themselves.
Hope y'all get some good stuff from this, I'm going to be working on a more definitive and precise version of this, this was just bullet points, later next week that I'll make available to those who want it. More on that to follow.
Stay Safe, Stay Frosty.
Regards,
Chief Master Instructor Kenny Smith
President, Total Force Training Group