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Mafia Targeting Miners' Widows 'a Hoax'

A story about mafia extorting money from widows of miners killed in a Siberian mine is a fabrication, police said Tuesday, without specifying possible reasons for the hoax.

A letter, supposedly from a widow, was posted on the web site of Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev saying racketeers had demanded half of the 1 million rubles ($32,000) she was paid in federal compensation for the death of her husband.

The letter's author gave only a first name, Galina, and said she had a 15-year-old daughter.

But none of the relatives of the dead miners has confirmed any extortion attempts, Kemerovo region police said on their web site Tuesday.

There is no woman named Galina with a daughter of that age among the miners' widows, police said.

In addition, the leader of a local criminal group implicated in the letter was found to have an alibi.

The Investigative Committee said it was trying to identify the real author of the letter, Interfax reported.

Twin blasts at the Raspadskaya mine killed 90 people on May 8 and 9.

Prosecutor General Yury Chaika ordered a probe into the explosions to detect possible safety violations, his office said in a statement Tuesday.

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