A young Chechen woman, who had tried to set off a bomb in the center of the Russian capital last year, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Moscow court on Thursday, the Interfax News Agency reported.  

Zarema Muzhakhoyeva, 23, was arrested in July after her strange behavior attracted the attention of security guards at a central Moscow restaurant. A bomb was found in her purse.

Although the attack failed, a Russian bomb disposal expert died when he was trying to defuse the bomb, which contained the equivalent of 400 grams of TNT.

The incident followed a series of suicide bombings blamed on Chechens, including one at a Moscow rock concert five days earlier that killed 15 people in addition to two attackers.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2004)