The Black Widows' Revenge

FSB sources told TIME they had no doubt Chechen terrorists were behind the blasts, and voiced frustration with the inefficiency of their own counterterrorism efforts. Pro-separatist Chechens contacted by TIME said they had no direct knowledge, but believed a single suicide bomber had brought down each plane. Authorities lasered in on a Chechen-sounding name on each flight manifest; no relative or friend had inquired into their fates. A passenger named Nagayeva was said to be the last person to buy a ticket for Flight 1303. The remains of the other women passenger, named Dzhebirkhanova, were found in the wreckage of Flight 1047. Though the exact identities and home villages of the two women have not been confirmed, the Russian media has already dubbed them "black widows," shorthand [an error occurred while processing this directive] for young Chechen women who become suicide bombers to avenge husbands, brothers and fathers killed by Russians over the past four years.

Both FSB and Chechen sources told Time that a group of Chechen fighters has been in Moscow in recent weeks, probably reconnoitering or preparing for an attack. A representative of Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen President whom Russia overthrew in 2000, denied any link to the bombings, but the Islambouli Brigades, a little-known group that claims to be linked to al-Qaeda, said it had carried them out in revenge against Russian policies in Chechnya.

The attacks appear to be the next grim, logical step in the escalation of the Chechnya war. After the Moscow theater siege of 2002, when 30 to 40 guerrillas took more than 800 people hostage before being killed, some Chechen fighters were deeply critical of what they called the inefficient use of potential suicide bombers. Instead of concentrating all the fighters in the theater, they said, the rebel leaders should have distributed them across Moscow and then detonated them one by one to spread the terror. Last week's bombings suggest that Chechen rebels have embraced this more efficient form of atrocity.

The Kremlin's temporary state of denial over the attacks isn't new. President Putin is perennially caught between the need to reinforce his government's image as a powerful, competent Russian state, and the less flattering reality suggested by its inability to stop the Chechen guerrillas. By clamping down on press coverage of the war in Chechnya, Putin has been trying to claim victory there. But planes falling out of the Russian sky tell a different story.