By Philip P. Pan - Washington Post Staff Writer
MOSCOW -- Two female suicide bombers set off powerful explosions in separate subway stations in central Moscow during the morning rush hour Monday killing at least 38 people and injuring more than 60 others in what officials said was the deadliest and most sophisticated terrorist attack in the Russian capital in six years.
The twin blasts which occurred about 45 minutes apart spread panic through the city as residents were returning to work after Palm Sunday and raised fears that Islamist militants in southwestern Russia were making good on threats to begin staging attacks throughout the country again.
The first explosion took place shortly before 8 a.m. as the doors were closing on a packed train at the Lubyanka station located under the headquarters of the Federal Security Service or FSB the main successor to the Soviet-era intelligence and internal security agency known as the KGB. The location prompted speculation that the attack was intended as a warning to the FSB which has led the Kremlins sometimes brutal efforts to suppress the separatist insurgency in Chechnya and the rest of the North Caucasus.
The second less powerful blast occurred at the Park Kultury station four stops away on the same line as commuters were exiting a train. Officials said evidence at the scenes including body parts indicated both bombers were women wearing belts packed with explosives as well as bolts and iron rods that acted as deadly shrapnel.
I realized something had happened because I smelled the smoke. There was a huge crowd trying to get out and shouts that people were being crushed said Irina Kedrovskaya a journalist who was arriving for work at the Park Kultury station at the time of the blast. People were scared and panicking and outside I saw them rushing away people who were bleeding on stretchers.
Another passenger Anton Bakanov complained that authorities announced trains were delayed but said nothing about the first explosion when he boarded the subway. Then he felt the second blast shake his train at Park Kultury.
There was smoke thick smoke everywhere maybe because of gunpowder and then I heard screams he said. People were screaming terribly.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered his government to provide full aid to the victims and their families and to tighten security at airports and railways. We must consider this problem on a national scale he said in televised remarks. Obviously we have not done enough.
We will carry out uncompromising operations against terrorists to the end Medvedev added.
Calling the attacks a crime terrible in its consequences and disgusting in its manner Prime Minister Vladimir Putin broke off an official trip to Siberia to return to the capital and promised The terrorists will be destroyed.
In a statement of condolences issued while he was returning to Washington from a trip to Afghanistan President Obama said The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life and we condemn these outrageous acts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin bombings but Alexander Bortnikov director of the FSB said the attacks appeared to have been committed by terrorist groups linked to the North Caucasus region.
In a video posted on the Internet in February rebel leader Doku Umarov warned that the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia and that blood will no longer be limited to our cities and towns in the North Caucasus. He also claimed responsibility for the bombing of a luxury train between Moscow and St. Petersburg in November which caused a derailment that killed 28 people.
The war is coming to their cities he said. If Russians think the war only happens on television somewhere far away in the Caucasus where it cant reach them then God willing we plan to show them that the war will return to their homes.
Russian news agencies quoted unidentified police sources as saying investigators had reviewed surveillance footage of the attacks and were searching for individuals who had accompanied the suspects to the subway stations. Local television showed photos of bodies scattered on subway cars and station platforms and video of dazed bloodied passengers emerging from smoke-filled stations as ambulances and helicopters evacuated the wounded.
Alexander Torshin deputy speaker of the Federation Council the upper house of parliament told reporters that the bombings might have been planned in retaliation for recent raids by security forces in the North Caucasus a mountainous multiethnic region that includes Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan.
After one clash in early March security officials said they had succeeded in killing Alexander Tikhomirov a charismatic young preacher known as Sayid Buryatsky who had emerged as a major figure in the insurgency. Weeks later authorities reported killing another rebel leader Anzor Astemirov who is believed to have made the original proposal to establish a fundamentalist Caucasus Emirate in the region.
Umarov declared jihad and embraced that cause in 2007 alienating some Chechen nationalists seeking independence but drawing fresh support from Muslim fighters outside Chechnya who were angered by the harsh tactics of Russian security forces.
Moscows subway system one of the most extensive and busiest in the world with more than 7 million passengers on an average working day was last targeted by the rebels in August 2004 when a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside a station in northeastern Moscow and killed 10 people.
A week earlier two planes departing from Moscow on the same day exploded in mid-flight killing all 89 people aboard in an attack for which Chechen militants claimed responsibility. In February 2004 another suicide bomber set off an explosion on a Moscow subway train killing more than 40 people.
In their deadliest attack Chechen fighters took more than 1000 people hostage at the Beslan school in North Ossetia in September 2004 then fought Russian security forces in a bloody gun battle that left at least 334 hostages dead more than half of them children.
Two years earlier Chechens took hostages at a theater in Moscows Dubrovka area. At least 130 hostages and nearly 40 Chechen militants were killed when Russian forces stormed the building to end the siege.
Moscow has enjoyed a respite from such violence in recent years but the insurgents have stepped up their attacks in the North Caucasus over the past year.
Staff writer William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
