What you actually have here is two groups...one with great power and one with very little power...attempting to terrorize each other into capitulation. One group is the radical Chechen fighters. The other group is the ruling civil and military powers in Russia. They both commit terrorist acts upon each other's populace. This latest terrorist act is by the Chechens. If the Russian government follows precedent it will retaliate with counter-terrorism (under a facade of "legality"...or not), and the cycle will continue.

The ordinary civilians on both sides are the ones who mostly end up paying the price for it, and it is all absolutely tragic.