Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, where a suicide bomber killed a reported 35 people on Monday.
Today a suicide bomber detonated at the international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. The location in the airport was accessible to persons that had not passed through security. Thus far, approximately 35 are reported dead and 130 injured.
The head of the bomber was found, according to some media organizations, suggesting the bomb was a suicide vest. Reports indicate the person was 30 to 35 years of age and of Chechen or Dagestani ethnic descent. Fifteen pounds of explosives were estimated as being strapped to the person.
At the first mention of the bombing, the location and method appear to be the pattern of the Chechen “Black Widows.” This group of operatives was responsible for the March 2010 Moscow subway bombings and the twin 2004 Russian aircraft bombings.
What is a Black Widow? The term was coined in approximately 2003 to identify female suicide bombers loyal to Shamil Basayev, the late Islamic militant Chechen warlord. Often the women were the wives or family members of those killed by Russian forces in the Chechen conflict. One of the first incidents of note involving the Black Widows occurred in 2002, when terrorists seized a crowded Moscow theater and demanded an end to the war in Chechnya. In many cases, the women involved in these attacks are not ideologically committed to the task. For example, when the women involved in the Beslan attack realized they would hurt children, they reportedly protested and were blown up remotely.
Whether the bomber was male or female, the Black Widow organization indeed appears to have a tie to today’s attack. Interfax reports intelligence officials tied the airport attack to the death of a female suicide bomber on Dec. 31, 2010, in an explosion in Moscow. The deceased was the wife of a North Caucus militant. Investigation of the Dec. 31 incident led to the Jan. 5, 2011, arrest of an accomplice, Zeinate Suinova, in Volgograd, and three additional arrests warrants followed. One of the warrants may have been for the airport bomber, who may have been a suspected bomb maker for the women. Unfortunately, time ran out before the perpetrators were caught.
If there is any lesson, it is that terrorist organizations will continue to attack in their same patterns, even as they attempt to develop new techniques and targets. If there is a second lesson, it is that time is always of the essence.
Joan Neuhaus Schaan is the fellow in homeland security and terrorism at the Baker Institute, coordinator of the Texas Security Forum, and serves on the advisory board of the Transborder International Police Association. She has served as the executive director of the Houston-Harris County Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council and on the board of Crime Stoppers of Houston, Inc.