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        CNN Interactive

        Group claims responsibility for Russian mall bomb

        Dagestan link suggested

        September 1, 1999
        Web posted at: 7:53 a.m. EDT (1153 GMT)

        MOSCOW (AP) -- A self-proclaimed revolutionary group protesting
        growing consumerism in Russia claimed responsibility for a bomb
        that shattered a shopping mall in the heart of Moscow, officials
        said Wednesday.

        The blast in a video game arcade in the underground mall Tuesday
        night showered an adjacent row of fast food restaurants with
        glass and metal shards at a time when it was thronged with
        tourists and shoppers. According to emergency officials, 41
        people were injured, several seriously.

        The Federal Security Service, the chief successor to the KGB,
        said it had found a note on the scene that claimed a "union of
        revolutionary writers" carried out the blast to fight
        consumerism.

        "Acts like those taken today create a social engine which is
        still experimental but is gradually becoming a real social
        factor," the note read, according to a spokesman at the FSB.

        "A hamburger not eaten to the end by the dead consumer is a
        revolutionary hamburger. Consumers: We don't like your way of
        life and it's unsafe for you."

        The Western-style mall is one of the few in Russia. Most
        ordinary Russians are poor and unable to afford the growing
        range of Western-style consumer goods available in Moscow and
        other big cities.

        Officials said they had not heard of the group before. The
        investigation into the blast was also focusing on possible
        political or organized crime involvement.

        Security agents, who confirmed Wednesday that the blast was
        caused by a bomb, were studying the tapes of mall security
        cameras for clues.

        Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov called the blast a "terrorist act."
        The mall was a pet project of the ambitious, outspoken mayor.

        Russia has scores of bomb attacks each year, often involving
        organized crime groups or business rivals seeking to settle turf
        battles.

        Some Russian media suggested there might be a connection between
        the bomb and fighting between Russian troops and Islamic
        militants in the southern republic of Dagestan.

        Also, with Russia also preparing for parliamentary elections in
        December, some officials have warned there could be politically
        motivated attacks.

        President Boris Yeltsin, who was at one of his country homes
        outside Moscow when the blast hit, expressed shock and offered
        his condolences.

        The mall opened two years ago to great fanfare, with shops that
        sell expensive imported goods such as Nike running shoes and fur
        coats.

        http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/01/moscow.blast.02.ap/index.html


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