Grozny ballistic missile attack

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Grozny ballistic missile attack
Part of the Second Chechen War
LocationGrozny, Chechnya
DateOctober 21, 1999
TargetVarious civilian and government/military targets
Attack type
Ballistic missile strike
DeathsEst. more than 100 instantly
InjuredAbout 250 to over 400
PerpetratorsStrategic Rocket Forces

The Grozny ballistic missile attack was a wave of Russian

capital Grozny on October 21, 1999, early in the Second Chechen War. The attack killed at least 118 people according to initial reports,[1] mostly civilians, or at least 137 immediate dead according to the HALO Trust count.[2]
Hundreds of people were also injured, many of whom later died.

The attack

The first reports from the region suspected the use of

air defense systems had been destroyed in the earlier Russian air strikes. The explosions occurred at around 18:15 hours in several areas of the capital, mostly in the downtown area including the crowded, central outdoor marketplace
.

Two of the missiles exploded outside the city's only functioning

maternity hospital, which was located near Aslan Maskhadov's presidential palace building (the palace itself was not damaged in the attack), and near the city's main post office.[5] Another missile hit the mosque in the village of Kalinina, a suburb of Grozny.[4] According to official Chechen sources, about 30–35 people died at the hospital; a correspondent for the AFP counted 27 bodies, most of them women and newborn babies.[6] Most of the casualties from the post office strike seemed to have been people waiting for public transport outside the building, as several buses were at the stop at the moment of the explosion.[7] In the Kalinina mosque, some 41 people who had gathered for evening prayer were said to have been killed.[8]

Most of the casualties occurred at the central market, which was filled with hundreds of shoppers at the time of the attack. The victims were not limited to

confectionery stalls."[9] According to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky, the worst hit area was the so-called kolkhoz sector of the market, located near the building of the Chechen military headquarters.[7] Reuters reporter Maria Eismont counted at least 90 bodies on the scene,[10] while the local AFP correspondent said he witnessed 17 corpses recovered from the market.[6] Some time afterwards, another missile fell about 200 meters from the bazaar, claiming the life of Supian Ependiyev, the first journalist to be killed while covering the Second Chechen War.[11]

Aftermath

Many of the blasts' victims were brought to the central Grozny hospital, where doctors operated without electricity. Some of the hundreds of injured, about 100 of them in a

was bombed after being turned back. The city's streets were reported to be largely empty after the attack, as those residents who had not yet fled were too scared to venture outside.[13] Two weeks later, Chechen separatist officials gave an updated death toll of more than 280 people.[14]

There were further reports of tactical missiles being used on Grozny as the

Beslan school hostage crisis
in September 2004 that claimed more than 300 victims.

Responsibility for the attack and the question of its legality

The attack was met with an official

ammunition depot" during the alleged fighting in that area. Later, some Russian officials actually suggested "a terrorist act prepared by the terrorists themselves" and the press office of the Russian Defense Ministry even called anyone who blamed Russia for the massacre "a liar", accusing the reporters at the scene of "misleading international public opinion".[1]

According to a report by the Russian human rights organization Memorial who had analyzed the television footage of the aftermath, an explosion of "one or several compact powerful explosive mechanisms" at ground level in this case is out of the question, as all the vertical elements in the rows of stalls remained standing, while the horizontal ones (tents and overhead covers) were destroyed and broken. In addition, those who were not protected by overhead cover received multiple fragmentation wounds, and the foreground showed the characteristic traces of cassette (cluster) ammunition of so-called "ball bombs" (munitions used in the Tochka missile warheads and intended for destruction of non-protected live forces in large areas). Finally, apparent fragments of "enormous" ground-to-ground missiles and cluster sub-munition canisters were found at the scene (as reported by Babitsky). There were also reports in the Russian media on the use of cassette tactical missiles against "terrorists" in Chechnya earlier that month, which were corroborated by the refugees.[7] "The mosque and the maternity home, about which the Russian officials have chosen to keep silent, are undoubtedly civil objects, the attack of which is explicitly prohibited," Memorial added.[7]

According to Human Rights Watch, the possibility of arms merchants or military installations in the bazaar did not justify "the tremendous amount of force" used against the market in a strike which may have been illegal. In its report titled Evidence of

noncombatants in the immediate vicinity, strongly suggests that the Russian attack was grossly disproportionate. If Chechen commander Shamil Basayev did indeed situate his headquarters within the Grozny market, that too would be a serious abuse of international law. Although Chechen fighters are not parties to the Geneva Conventions, as individuals within the territory of a state party [Russia], they are bound to respect the basic precept of civilian immunity. Human Rights Watch calls upon Chechen commanders to immediately redeploy their troops, headquarters, and weapons storage facilities out of populated areas."[9]

According to the HALO Trust, "Grozny market ... is a great sprawling area of wooden stalls laid out each morning and packed away in the evenings. It is the equivalent of all your department stores rolled into one. Thus you can buy fresh bread, a TV set, a wedding dress, a bag of nails, and an AK-47 in one open area the size of a couple of sports fields. Each section is clearly marked and the area where weapons are sold is very small and set right against the edge. The center of destruction was some 150 m away from the area set aside for selling weapons. It was right over the clothes and food section. With the use of such munitions in such an area it was impossible not to have foreseen massive collateral damage.[2]

A study by the

58th Army near the village of Tarskoye in North Ossetia.[7]

World reaction

 

Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder condemned the "massacre on the Grozny marketplace," and German politicians urged sanctions against Russia.[22] European leaders also demanded Putin put forward a plan to end the war in Chechnya.[12][18][19]

 

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement in which he expressed his "strong hope that special care is taken to avoid innocent civilian casualties in the current conflict and that the provisions of humanitarian law in armed conflict are respected."[18]

 United States : The White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said that there were "conflicting reports and statements" about the blasts, but "what's clear is that there's a tragic situation there with terrible loss of life."[12][18] U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called the incident "deplorable and ominous" and said that the Russians should have learnt in their previous war in Chechnya that "this kind of violence is not a solution".[13]

high explosive weapons in a market place crowded with civilians suggests that this attack may have been indiscriminate
within the meaning of Article 51 of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions, to which the Russian Federation is a party, and therefore a grave breach of this Protocol." Regarding this and other incidents of civilian casualties in Chechnya, the organization called on Russia to:

comply with the provisions of international humanitarian law prohibiting indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and should therefore immediately desist from carrying out any such attacks in the context of its military offensive in Chechnya [and] take sufficient precautions to protect civilians. In addition to selecting and vetting targets for their genuine military significance, it should give civilians effective advance warning of its attacks - "unless circumstances do not permit" - in compliance with international humanitarian law. Other rules require specific precautions to be taken when launching attacks, including desisting from an attack if it becomes apparent that the objective is not a military one, or the attack risks being disproportionate to the military objective. (...) The Russian authorities should hold comprehensive and impartial investigations into alleged abuses of international humanitarian law such as direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals and medical vehicles, which have been reported to have occurred in the course of their military offensive in Chechnya. The government should bring all military and government officials responsible for such violations to justice. The Russian government should grant immediately safe access to Chechnya to a team of international investigators to conduct independent investigation into allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, to establish the truth and to identify those responsible.[21]

The

laws of war" and urged the Russian authorities to vigorously investigate the incident and publish their findings.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Russians in disarray over Grozny strike, The Guardian, October 23, 1999
  2. ^ a b c d e The October 21, 1999, Cluster Bomb Attack on the Grozny Market, Mennonite Central Committee, 2000 Archived June 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ 60 dead as Russian missiles hit Grozny, The Independent, October 22, 1999
  4. ^ a b c d e Russians at odds over market attack, BBC News, October 22, 1999
  5. ^ Russian rockets hit Grozny market, The Guardian, October 22, 1999
  6. ^ a b World: Europe: Rockets blast Grozny, BBC News, October 21, 1999
  7. ^ a b c d e f g THE MISSILE BOMBING OF GROZNY, OCTOBER 21 1999 Archived 2009-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, Memorial, 26 October 1999
  8. ^ Open Letter to the United Nations from the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Amnesty International, November 2, 1999
  9. ^ a b c d Evidence of War Crimes in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch, November 3, 1999
  10. ^ a b c d Putin contradicts Russian army spokesman on Chechen explosions; Many dead, wounded in Grozny blasts Archived 2007-12-04 at the Wayback Machine, CNN, October 22, 1999
  11. ^ a b Correspondent killed in Grozny rocket attack, Committee to Protect Journalists, November 5, 1999
  12. ^ a b c d e Blasts in Chechen Capital Unleash New Wave of Refugees, The New York Times, October 23, 1999
  13. ^ a b World: Europe: Russia tightens noose around Grozny, BBC News, October 23, 1999
  14. ^ Chechens Believe Russia’s Aim Is to Obliterate Nation, Los Angeles Times, November 07, 1999
  15. ^ World: Europe: Russia pounds Grozny, BBC News, November 7, 1999
  16. ^ War Crimes and Human Rights Violations in Chechnya Archived 2011-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, Oleg Orlov of Memorial, May 26, 2000
  17. ^ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 211, Part I Archived 2012-02-29 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 29 October 1999
  18. ^ a b c d Russia under pressure over Chechnya, BBC News, October 22, 1999
  19. ^ a b Russia denies deadly attack on Grozny, CBS, November 10, 2000
  20. ^ Grozny 2000: Urban Combat Lessons Learned Archived 2008-09-14 at the Wayback Machine, Foreign Military Studies Office, July–August 2000
  21. ^ a b CHECHNYA: FOR THE MOTHERLAND Reported grave breaches of international humanitarian law Archived 2005-05-11 at the Wayback Machine, Amnesty International, December 1, 1999
  22. The Associated Press
    , October 24, 1999

External links

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