Olympics spark outer terror games

Russia has stepped-up security following several bombings that killed dozens of people across the country.

ATHLETES preparing to travel to Sochi in Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games next month should be in no doubt about the fanatical commitment that Chechen Islamic terrorists have to their cause.

Under the leadership of Russia's most wanted man, Doku Umarov, former president of the self-proclaimed separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria with a $5 million bounty on his head, Chechen rebels have wreaked havoc across Russia since the military launched a full-scale war against their forces in 1994.

Volunteers carry an injured victim after special forces stormed a school seized by Chechen separatists on September 3, 2004 in the town of Beslan, Russia. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

Since then hundreds of innocent civilians have been murdered, from Moscow to Beslan and Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad). The terrorists favour suicide bombs, car bombs and bus bombs, but their most appalling act of all was the September 2004 siege of a school in Beslan that left 350 people dead - including 200 children. In 2002 Chechen rebels seized a theatre in Moscow that left 40 rebels and 130 civilians dead.

The Chechen disease even spread to the United States during 2013 when Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted bombs near the finish line of the Boston marathon killing three and injuring more than 200.

Indeed Chechen fighters have been found almost anywhere there is an Islamic extremist group operating, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Yemen.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty in the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others. His brother died following a shootout with police. Picture: AP Source: AP

And Australian troops have killed Chechen fighters in Afghanistan, potentially making sporting events here, such as the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, terrorist targets.

The group's most recent attacks (a female suicide bomber at a train station and a male suicide bomber on a trolley bus) in Volgograd, 900km north of Sochi, last month left more than 30 civilians dead and provided a chilling warning to athletes and others going to the games.

The wreckage of a trolleybus following a suicide attack that destroyed the packed trolleybus killing 14 people in the southern Russian city of Volgograd. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Umarov, who has been declared dead several times by Russian authorities, has labelled the Olympics the "satanic games,'' and he has urged his followers to attack the infidels.

"They plan to hold the Olympics on the bones of our ancestors, on the bones of many, many dead Muslims buried on our land by the Black Sea. We as mujahideen [soldiers of God] are required not to allow that, using any methods that Allah allows us," he said in a video translated by Canadian intelligence.

Umarov, 49, leads an armed Islamist group known as Imirat Kavkaz (IK) that has been fighting to impose Islamic rule in the mountainous North Caucuses region that borders Sochi and houses several Islamic republics.

Doku Umarov, the leader of the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, who claimed responsibility for the March 29, 2010 metro bombings in Moscow in a Russian-language video released in 2010. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

As athletes from around the globe prepare to travel to the Black Sea venue about 850km west of Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been busy assuring the Olympic Committee and foreign governments that his security forces can protect the thousands of foreigners who will take up residence in Sochi for the games.

The Russians will establish a 100km by 40km security zone around the city for the duration of the games and the security force will number 40,000 personnel.

Australian snow boarder and gold medal contender Torah Bright has said she will not compete if the attacks escalate and others would surely follow her lead.

Torah Bright of Australia won Gold for the Ladies Halfpipe at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

Australian Olympic Committee chairman John Coates has assured athletes that the games will be secure and he has already warned athletes against venturing outside the fortified zones. Coates has also told them to leave Russia as soon as the games are over.

Terrorism expert from Sydney's Macquarie University Clive Williams said he would advise anyone not travelling to Sochi in an official capacity to stay at home and watch the games on TV. He said the athletes and officials should be quite safe due to the intense security effort, but those outside the tent were at risk.

Pierre Boda has a place in the Australian team to compete at the 2014 Wnter Olympics in Sochi. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: News Limited

Professor Williams said he doubted that rebels would target the games security zone, but with 40,000 security personnel in Sochi there were bound the be weaknesses elsewhere in Russia.

"They will continue to go for `soft' targets so travelling on the trains or by roads could be a big problem," he said.

Former test cricketer Geoff Lawson was coach of the Pakistan national team during 2007 and 2008 when the country was boycotted due to the threat from Islamic extremists. Australia has not played there since 1998 and in 2002 a bomb killed 14 people outside the New Zealand team's hotel in Karachi.

During Mr Lawson's time at the helm the Champions Trophy and an Australian tour were cancelled after personal pleas by the former fast bowler to both Australian and Kiwi players fell on deaf ears.

In March 2009 the Sri Lanka team bus was attacked by heavily armed gunmen in Lawson's former home town of Lahore just two months after he finished with the team.

He said he always felt perfectly safe in Pakistan despite the odd bombing.

"Driving on the roads was much more dangerous," Mr Lawson said.

His advice to winter Olympians and others travelling to Sochi was to go to as many sources as possible for security information and advice.

"Don't rely on the media or foreign affairs speak to someone who has lived there or trained there," he said.

TERRORISM AND SPORT

* 1972 - Palestinian terrorists slaughtered 11 Israeli athletes and a German policeman in Munich

* 1996 a former soldier plants a bomb at the Atlanta Games village killing two and injuring 120

* 2002 - 14 people killed by suicide bomber outside New Zealand cricket team's hotel in Karachi Pakistan

* 2002 - Car bomb planted by terrorist group ETA explodes near Madrid's Bernabau football stadium

* 2009 - Sri Lankan cricket team bus attacked by gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan eight dead six injured

* 2013 - Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev plant pressure cooker bombs near finish line of Boston marathon, three dead 264 injured.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Olympics spark outer terror games

Dengan url

https://budayacreatip.blogspot.com/2014/01/olympics-spark-outer-terror-games.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Olympics spark outer terror games

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Olympics spark outer terror games

sebagai sumbernya