Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up yesterday in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 38 people and wounding more than 100, officials said. They blamed the carnage on rebels from the Caucasus region.
The blasts come six years after Caucasus Islamic separatists carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again come to Russia’s capital, amid militants’ warnings of a renewed determination to push their fight.
Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing late last year on a passenger train en route from Moscow to St Petersburg. Last month, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Web site that “the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities.”
The first explosion occured just before 8am at the Lubyanka station, underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, the KGB’s main successor agency.
About 45 minutes later, a second explosion hit the Park Kultury station, which is near the renowned Gorky Park.
“I heard a bang, turned my head, and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming,” said 24-year-old Alexander Vakulov, adding that he was on a train on the platform opposite the targeted train at Park Kultury.
“I saw a dead person for the first time in my life,” said 19-year-old Valentin Popov, who had just arrived at the station from the opposite direction.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who built much of his political capital by directing a fierce war with Chechen separatists a decade ago, vowed that “terrorists will be destroyed.”
Russian TV showed amateur video from inside the Lubyanka station of wounded and possibly dead victims sitting and lying on the floor. The train platform was filled with smoke.
Outside both stations, passengers flooded out, many of them crying and making frantic calls on their cellphones. The wounded were loaded into ambulances and helicopters, some with their heads wrapped in bloody bandages, as sirens wailed.
In a televised meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said body fragments of the two bombers pointed to a Caucasus connection. He did not elaborate.
“We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end,” Medvedev said.
Neither he nor Putin, who was on an official trip in Siberia, announced specific measures and it was not clear if Russia has new strategies to unleash in the Caucasus.
Meanwhile, Western powers vowed to back Russia in the fight against terrorism as they condemned the attacks on the Moscow metro.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her “shock and horror,” as she offered condolences to the victims in a message to Medvedev, her spokesman said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the “hateful” twin attacks and promised Moscow authorities that they had France’s “total solidarity as they confront this cowardly and horrible act.”
US President Barack Obama condemned the attacks as “outrageous acts,” offering his “deepest condolences” to the people of Russia after “the terrible loss of life and injuries.”
RSS