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| Official: Suicide bomber kills 14 at Russian train station - CNN Posted: 29 Dec 2013 08:45 AM PST STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Moscow (CNN) -- A massive explosion at a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd killed at least 14 people, including one police officer, the Investigative Committee of Russia said on its website Sunday. The head of the committee, Vladimir Markin, said 14 people had been killed and 34 people were injured, including a 9-year-old girl. The female suicide bomber set off the device before she could pass through a metal detector, Markin said, citing available information. He said the bomber used the equivalent of 10 kilograms of TNT and included shrapnel. Video taken from an outside security camera shows a huge fireball inside what appears to be the main entrance followed by a steady trail of smoke coming out shattered windows. The bombing occurred at about 12:45 p.m. local time (3:45 a.m. ET), officials said. President Vladimir Putin posted a message on the Kremlin's website sending his condolences to the family of those killed and wishing a quick recovery to those hurt. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the emergency and health ministries to provide "all necessary assistance" to the wounded. It is the second bombing in the southern Russian city in two months and comes less than six weeks ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, located less than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Volgograd. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. "There can be no justification for such barbarous attacks." said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "NATO and Russia stand together in the fight against terrorism., including by working together on technology to prevent attacks on public transport systems." A White House spokeswoman said, "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families." In October, a bomber blew up a passenger bus, killing six people and wounding more than 30 others. Russian media reported that a female Islamist suicide bomber from the Russian region of Dagestan was responsible for the attack. Volgograd, once called Stalingrad, is a major rail hub in the region, and each day thousands of passengers pass through the station, many on their way to Moscow. The restive region of Chechnya is also located in this southern portion of Russia. CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report |
| Congress, in bipartisan tone, disputes report Al Qaeda not involved in deadly ... - Fox News Posted: 29 Dec 2013 08:04 AM PST House lawmakers on Sunday disputed a new report that concludes Al Qaeda played no role in the fatal 2012 terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The report, published Saturday in The New York Times, found no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had a role in the assault that killed four Americans on Sept. 11, 2012, and that it appeared that the attack was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made anti-Islamic video, as the Obama administration first claimed. "I dispute that, and the intelligence community, to a large volume, disputes that," Michigan GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told "Fox News Sunday." He also repeatedly said the story was "not accurate." Rogers was joined on the show by California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who said, "intelligence indicates Al Qaeda was involved." The findings in the New York Times story also conflict with testimony from Greg Hicks, the deputy of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the attack. Hicks described the video as "a non-event in Libya" at that time, and consequently not a significant trigger for the attack Sean Smith, a foreign service officer, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were also killed in the 2012 attack. The responses by Rogers and Schiff Sunday follow New York Rep. Peter King, member and former chairman of the House's Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, telling Fox News on Saturday the argument in the Times story that the militia group Ansar al-Shariah -- not Al Qaeda -- led the Benghazi attack is an academic argument over semantics. "It's misleading," said King, considering Ansar al-Shariah is widely believed to be an affiliate terror group of Al Qaeda. "It's a distinction without a difference." Schiff, a House Intelligence Committee member, said the story doesn't conclude the attack was a flash mob attack or a "pre-planned, core Al Qaeda operation." Rogers declined to say whether he thought the recent Benghazi-related stories on TV and in print were politically motivated -- particularly to try to exonerate then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is eyeing a 2016 presidential bid. But he took issue with Ambassador Susan Rice talking about the incident when Congress "still has an ongoing investigation." Schiff said the newspaper report "was not designed to exonerate State Department lapses." |
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