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Click on the stars to view details of other radiological incidents.
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Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basaev. |
In November 1995, Chechen rebel field
commander Shamil Basaev claimed to a Russian television crew of the rebels' ability to build and explode
a radiological bomb. He informed the crew that a container with radioactive
material had been partially buried in Moscow's Ismailovsky Park. The crew
found the container and its contents—a small quantity of cesium-137.
The Russian Interior Ministry indicated that the material might have come
from a nuclear facility in the Chechen capital.
This incident did not result in the actual use of a radiological
dispersal device. It does, however, illustrate the potential of
terrorist groups to obtain radioactive material and use it to cause public fear.
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