Chechen Guerrillas Blow Up Gas Pipeline

Guerrillas blew up a gas pipeline in southern Chechnya on Thursday, igniting a fierce fire, and Russia strengthened its forces on the eve of a grim Chechen anniversary.

Leaders of Chechnya’s Russian-backed government blamed the blast, and a similar attack in the neighboring republic of Dagestan, on separatist Chechen fighters.

Today is the 52nd anniversary of the mass deportation of Chechens by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who accused them of collaborating with the Nazi army. More than half the population of 425,000 Chechens and Ingush, another Caucasus Mountains people, died on the journey to the steppes of Central Asia.

The early-morning explosion near Shelkovskaya in northeastern Chechnya disrupted natural gas supplies from Russia and started a blaze that took firefighters hours to extinguish, ITAR-Tass said.