'Black widows' link to air crashes

Russian police confirmed yesterday that traces of explosives had now been found on both of the aircraft which crashed last week, killing 90 people.

Two Chechen 'black widow' female suicide bombers are thought to have carried out Tuesday's terror attacks. One of the bombers was motivated by the loss of her brother, who was abducted by Russian troops in Chechnya, it was claimed yesterday.

Aminat Nagayeva, 27, who blew herself up on the Tupelov 134 plane bound for Volgograd, was from Kirov-Yurt, a village in the troubled southern region of Vedeno. Much of the current fighting in Chechnya is concentrated around this hilly region, steeped in some of the worst brutalities of the conflict.

Yesterday the Izvestiya newspaper quoted Dogman Akhmadov, head of the Kirov-Yurt administration, saying: 'One of Aminat's brothers disappeared three or four years ago. [According to most statements, federal troops] took him away and until now they have heard nothing of him. Now only her mother lives here and her sisters and brothers have gone to Grozny.'

Previous suicide bombers identified as the widows or relatives of people abducted or killed in Chechnya have been dubbed 'black widows'.

The Russian media yesterday speculated that the two women may be from the part-Turk Nagai ethnic group, who live across the north Caucacus and are purported to have links to the militant Wahhabist branch of Islam.

Russian officials said the attackers could have used false or stolen documents to avoid retribution against their families. But a database of casualties maintained by human rights group Memorial refers to the death in May 2001 of Ubais Nagayev, a 22-year-old from Kirov-Yurt. The second war in Chechnya had ended in a Russian victory and 'clean-up operations', in which former rebels or their sympathisers were rounded up and often executed, were reaching their peak.

The fate of Ubais Nagayev, whose sister, Aminat, may have been passenger 28 on the fatal flight from Moscow to Volgograd, provides a chilling insight into the cycle of violence in Chechnya. Kirov-Yurt, where Aminat grew up, was the site of more killings three days after her brother's abduction, when men in camouflage uniforms and masks shot dead nine civilians.

It is amid this continuing pattern of retribution and killing that Chechens will today vote for a new President. Troops line the streets of the capital, Grozny, cutting off roads in response to intelligence of attacks by separatist militants. Yesterday police tightened security at polling stations, targeted by militants to cut the turnout.

Most Chechens consider the vote, held under martial law to elect a successor to Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May, a foregone conclusion. Kadyrov was himself elected in conditions which observers said were rife with coercion and ballot-stuffing.

Kremlin backing for Chechen interior minister Alu Alkhanov caused many to believe the only vote that matters has already been cast. Yesterday a hairdresser called Allah told The Observer: 'Of course I won't vote. They have already decided who will be President, and it's much safer at home.'