Two Russian airliners plunged to earth Tuesday night, killing all 89 people aboard. Reports said one of the jets sent a distress signal before it crashed, and that may have indicated it had been hijacked.

    Though no concrete evidence has yet surfaced, the two nearly identical events have invited suspicion that terrorists may have been at work.

    The September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States spawned worldwide concerns about terrorist hijackings, and Chechen rebels have indicated they are willing to use planes to attack Russian cities.

    Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov told Reuters that "if Chechens possessed warplanes or rockets, then air strikes on Russian cities would also be legitimate."

    The Chechen rebels have denied any role in the jet crashes, but the timing is curious.

    The tragedy comes just days before a special presidential election in Chechnya, where terrorists have carried out several high-profile attacks in recent years. The election is set to replace the former Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in the spring. Chechen rebels, who nearly killed the interim president a few weeks ago, have vowed to assassinate the winner of the election.

    The jet disasters, if proved to be the work of militant extremists, should sound a loud alert for the world: terrorism remains rampant though members of the global village have been trying to clamp down on it.

    The Bali nightclub blast that left 202 people dead, the hostage crisis in the Moscow Theatre Siege, the train bombing in Madrid, Spain, and various other terrorist acts of carnage that have reared their ugly heads in the past few years prove the evil strength of terrorists to attack innocent people around the world.

    Heavier blows should be wrought upon terrorists.

    Whether these airline disasters prove a part of an organized terrorist attack or are a tragic coincidence is still under investigation.

    If not a terrorist operation, the crashes are still a human tragedy that has taken 89 lives.

    We mourn for the dead and pray for a safe world.

    (China Daily)