Blast in southern Russia very powerful; 2 bombs explode elsewhere in

(cont.) Russia.

Seems like a change in tactics.

MAKHACHKALA, Russia
(AP) - A bomb that killed a
pregnant woman and two
other people in southern
Russia was made of an
artillery shell stuffed with
metal and exploded with the
equivalent of 10 kilograms
of TNT, an official said
Friday.

Meanwhile, Russian news
reports said a homemade
bomb exploded in the Baltic
Sea city of Kaliningrad on
Thursday and a similar
device was found near a
market in another Russian city, Ulyanovsk.

Zaur Isayev, a deputy chief prosecutor in the southern Dagestan
region, said at a news conference that the explosive device in
Thursday's attack was a 75 mm shell stuffed with nails, nuts and other
pieces of metal. He said there was "no doubt that the terrorist act was
prepared by professionals."

Canada.com

that ignores the fact that the mob scene in Daghestan makes 1920s Chicago look like Mr Rogers. :shrug:
The place is a timebomb, perhaps more than Chechnya was.. the Chechens (or any other N.Caucasus group) count on Daghestan as one day joining them against Russia to liberate the whole north Caucasus, why would they try to anger them more than they already have by blowing them up at random?
Sounds more like a mob hit, from your other article--
Among the dead was the head of a city police branch that provides security to private companies and state-run enterprises. The other police officer was a member of a squad that fights organized crime.

I thought the cop hit in Dagestan might be "private" too. Of
course I wouldn't put it past the Russian INTEL to try to stir up
a bit of disagreement between Dagestan and the Chechens, or to use
the fortuitous opportunity when it presents itself.

The bombs in Kaliningrad and Ulyanovsk were what I noticed.
Could be random, but if they started targeting cities outside
the Causcasus and outside Moscow that would raise some interesting
speculations.

hm, didn't see that part. no idea.. have they linked the different blasts yet or was it just incidental? Didn't see anything new at ITAR-TASS or Interfax, they're usually first out of the blocks to churn out anything anti-Chechen/anti-Caucasian they can find..

When thinking about this I could not imagine a motive either way, aside from killing for killing's sake which is not a motive I would often consider.. except perhaps as part of the organized crime-sort of mafia groups. Then I ran across this:--
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,998986,00.html

Obviously the only people who benefit from these bombs going off and innocent people being hurt/killed are the media bosses and politicians who make their livings off manipulating the fears and prejudices of the easily manipulated (here or in Russia--and most everywhere else for that matter). And then this idea comes up..

Coming up next, "productivity goals" for neighborhood watch groups.

You are right, in any case, they do have a big need to keep the
audience distracted from the activities of the man behind the
curtain. If the Russian people ever start to think about what
a shithole they have turned the place into we may well see a
second Russian revolution.