Incident Summary:
08/30/2011: On Tuesday evening at 2145, in the Leninsky district of Grozny, Chechnya, Russia, a suicide bomber, disguised as a police officer, detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), outside the Seda cafe on Bogdana Khmelnitskovo Street. Patrol-post service policemen stopped the first suicide bomber outside the cafe for a document check and the man detonated his bomb. The explosion killed four policemen, and wounded several other policemen and civilians. When first responders arrived two more suicide bombers detonated their explosives. From all three explosions, eight policemen and one civilian were killed, while 18 police and five civilians were injured. The attack caused an unknown amount of property damage to the surrounding area. Police cordoned off the scene and sealed off the neighborhood, and specialists of the SK's central office arrived on the scene. After investigations, officials determined that three kilograms of TNT equivalent explosives were used in the attacks. Two of the bombers were identified as Magomed Dashayev and Adlan Khamidov. Officials believe Islamist rebels to be responsible, although no group claimed responsibility for the attack. Criminal proceedings were opened under five articles of Russia's Criminal Code, including "murder" and "attempted murder of law-enforcement personnel."
Overview
GTD ID:
201108300006
When:
2011-08-30
Country:
Russia
Region:
Eastern Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Chechnya
City:
Grozny/Groznenskiy
Location Details:
The attack occurred outside of the Seda cafe on Bogdana Khmelnitskovo Street in the Leninsky district of Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Police |
Name of Entity |
Grozny Law Enforcement |
Specific Description |
Police and first responders |
Nationality of Target |
Russia |
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
|
Specific Description |
Civilians were targeted. |
Nationality of Target |
Russia |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Suicide (carried bodily by human being) |
Weapon Details |
Three suicide improvised explosive devices were used in the attack. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | Yes |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The available sources listed the fatalities for these attacks cumulatively as 12, and the injuries for these attacks cumulatively as 23, so these figures have been distributed evenly for these cases in order to preserve statistical accuracy in the database. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
3 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
12 Fatalities / 23 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
12 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
3 |
Total Number of Injured |
23 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Russia-Eurasia Terror Watch, "Grozny’s Triple Suicide Bombings—Update One," Russian News & Information Agency, August 31, 2011, http://www.retwa.com/home.cfm?articleId=11901. |
Steve Gutterman, "Police Say Three Bombers behind Chechnya Attack," Reuters, August 31, 2011, http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/police-say-three-bombers-behind-chechnya-attack/. |
Itar Tass News Agency, "Two Chechnya Suicide Bombers Identified," Itar Tass News Agency, August 31, 2011, http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/215214.html. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties