By empty (1/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A criminal investigation has been launched into a series of explosions that hit a North Ossetian gas pipeline under charges of a premeditated destruction of property, Russia\'s Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel told Interfax on Sunday. Two explosive devices used to blow up the gas pipeline had a yield equivalent to 700-800 grams of TNT, he said. \"Luckily, no one was hurt and no serious damage was done to the environment,\" Shepel said, adding that this is why the crime is not being seen as a terror attack.
A criminal investigation has been launched into a series of explosions that hit a North Ossetian gas pipeline under charges of a premeditated destruction of property, Russia\'s Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel told Interfax on Sunday. Two explosive devices used to blow up the gas pipeline had a yield equivalent to 700-800 grams of TNT, he said. \"Luckily, no one was hurt and no serious damage was done to the environment,\" Shepel said, adding that this is why the crime is not being seen as a terror attack. That the blasts were an act of sabotage carried out by an extremist group is being considered among the theories of the crime, sources close to the investigation told Interfax. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry earlier told Interfax that the first explosion was reported at 2:52 a.m., Moscow time, Sunday near Verkhny Lars checkpoint, 30 kilometers south of Vladikavkaz and the second at 3:15 a.m., Moscow time, in a reserve line, resulting in a fire. \"No one was hurt. Gas supplies to Georgia and Armenia have been halted. Russian consumers have not been affected. Experts are working to establish the cause of the accident,\" the ministry said. Repairs to the pipeline are expected to take about four days, Vasily Zinovyev, general director of the Kavkaztransgas pipeline company, told Interfax by phone on Sunday. The possibility of Azerbaijan supplying gas to Georgia was discussed in a Sunday phone conversation between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Saakashvili\'s press service told Interfax. Tbilisi is currently receiving gas left over in the pipes and, should no alternative solution be found, the capital will go without gas, Tbilisi\'s gas distribution company Tbilgaz told Interfax. Gas supplies to several districts of Tbilisi have already been cut and supplies have been cut off to individual regions. (Interfax)