Russian Islamic Video Threatens Sochi Games

An Islamic terrorist group in Russia’s North Caucasus claimed responsibility Sunday for twin suicide bombings in the southern city of Volgograd last month and posted a video threatening to strike the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

There had been no previous claim of responsibility for the bombings, which killed 34 people and heightened security fears before next month’s Winter Games.

In the video, two Russian-speaking men warned President Vladimir Putin that “If you hold these Olympics, we will give you a present for the innocent Muslim blood being spilled all around the world: In Afghanistan, in Somalia, in Syria.”

They added, “for the tourists who come, there will be a present, too.”

In a statement posted on its website, the terrorist group Vilayat Dagestan claimed responsibility for the Volgograd bombings.

The video claims that the two men, identified as Suleiman and Abdurakhman, were the suicide bombers and purports to show the explosives being prepared and strapped to their bodies.

Russia has introduced sweeping security measures for the Sochi Games.

The Chechen leader of the Caucasus Emirate, Doku Umarov, had ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets in 2012, but he rescinded that order in July and urged his followers to try to undermine the Olympics.

This article appeared in print on page 2 of the January 20th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.