Steve Quayle News Alerts

Feb. 6, 2004
By Mikhail Yenukov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An explosion, apparently caused by a suicide bomber, tore through a packed underground train in Moscow in morning rush-hour on Friday, killing up to 40 people.

"From what we have found so far we can say about 30 people have been killed and about 100 injured," an emergency ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.

Interfax news agency, quoting ambulance sources, said the death toll had reached 40 and other sources said it could be even higher.

President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), speaking a short while later, said terrorism had to be defeated.

"Only by uniting forces, can we deal with terrorism -- this scourge of the 21st century," Putin was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as telling visiting Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

Rescued travelers said the explosion blew out carriage windows and started a fire. One woman said survivors walked about a mile along the tracks to safety.

Police and state security officials said the explosion was likely caused by a suicide bomber on board the train, crammed with morning commuters. Interfax quoted investigators as citing indications a woman suicide bomber was behind the attack.

Suicide bomb attacks in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia have been the trademark of Chechen separatist rebels fighting Russian forces for independence in their Muslim Caucasus homeland.

If confirmed, it would be the worst such attack by Chechen suicide bombers in Moscow since July 2003 when two women blew themselves up at an open-air music festival at the Tushino airfield, killing 14 other people.

The incident took place just six weeks before a March 14 presidential election in which Putin is widely expected to win a second Kremlin term easily.

MARKETS RATTLED

The news rattled Moscow's financial markets sending the dollar-denominated RTS index down nearly two percent at the opening. The rouble was also slightly weaker.

Moscow deputy mayor Valery Shantsev said the suicide bomber had not been wearing an explosive belt packed with shrapnel as attackers have done in the past.

"This time the explosive device was different," he said.

The explosion occurred at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. EST) as the train bringing people into the city traveled along a tunnel toward Moscow's busy Paveletskaya station.

The elaborately decorated Stalin-era underground system, the pride of Muscovites for its clean marble tunnels and efficiency, is also one of the world's deepest.

Pictures of the inside of the devastated carriage showed bodies lying among twisted metal and shredded seats.

"The explosion was at the front of the second carriage in a tunnel. As soon as the train stopped people began climbing out through windows and doors," an eyewitness who gave her name only as Lyudmila, aged 31, told Reuters.

Like many survivors, Lyudmila - her face blackened with soot and using a nasal spray for relief - made her way from the blazing train to safety along the rail track choking on clouds of dust.

"People were crammed together in the carriage. Many had not been able to get on the train," she said.

700 EVACUATED

Dozens of ambulances and fire engines converged on Moscow's Paveletskaya Square, teeming with morning commuters, and evacuated altogether 700 people from underground.

Many of those rushed to hospital were suffering from broken bones and burns.

A Reuters staff member, Nikolai Isayev, who was at the scene, said: "I saw at least three injured. One had a head wound and another was apparently unconscious. The injured are being loaded into emergency vehicles and being driven off."

Moscow underground trains are always packed especially in winter months when people avoid driving because of snow-clogged roads. Trains can often be carrying up to 1,000 people.

Up to two million people commute into Moscow every morning for work. Officials said security had been tightened at all main train stations and airports in and around the capital.

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