Russia: July 7, 2003

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In the last two months, suicide bombings by Chechens have killed over a hundred people (most of the them Chechens.) In Chechnya, the fighting, which has been going on since October, 1999, is increasingly a civil war between the majority of Chechens, who want an end to the violence which has cursed the area since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and dozens of political and criminal factions that are still willing to fight for what they see as theirs. Blood feuds and banditry have been common in the region for centuries.