Monday, March 29, 2010

Twin blasts Moscow Metro stations

Twin blasts occurred on Monday morning killing at least 38 people and injuring 70. The first took place at 7:52 a.m. (03:52 GMT) at the Lubyanka station near the former KGB headquarters, which now houses the Federal Security Service. The second bomb detonated some 40 minutes later four stops along the line at Park Kultury station, which is also within walking distance of the Kremlin.

Medvedev took the escalator down to the Lubyanka station platform and laid a wreath at the spot where the doors of the second carriage opened and the bomber detonated her explosives, killing at least 24 people.Reports RIA Novosti.Thirty eight people were killed and more than seventy wounded in Moscow this morning two suspected Chechen female suicide bombers blew themselves up on packed metro trains. Though no organisation claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, Chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB) blamed militant groups active in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region-Chechnya for the strikes.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon condemned on Monday the deadly terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway that claimed dozens of lives, his official spokesman said.

Hours after the blasts, security agencies recovered an unexploded suicide belt besides finding the body parts of one of the suicide bombers.The first suspected bomber wearing an explosive belt struck at the Lubyanka station near Kremlin claiming 25 lives.Forty minutes later, the second bomber hit a moving train at the Park Kultury station near the famous Gorky Park killing at least 12 people. One person succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.The Moscow subway system is one of the world's busiest, carrying more than seven million passengers daily. The toll could rise as the condition of some of the wounded is stated to be critical. At the emergency Kremlin meeting with the security chiefs, President Dmitry Medvedev said his government will continue the combat to suppress terror and terrorism.

He directed the Interior Minister to take tough steps to ensure security but without any violations of the civil rights of the public.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed to destroy the terrorists, who were behind the blasts at two metro stations and is rushing to the capital after cutting short his visit to Siberia.The blasts in the underground railway stations have revived the nightmare Moscow had witnessed on February 6, 2004 when a suicide bomb blast on a moving metro train had claimed 42 lives. Same year in August in a botched attack 10 people were killed outside another metro station.

India said that it stands united with Russia in combating the forces of violence and terrorism. Describing the twin blasts in Moscow as most horrific act of violence the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in a letter to President Medvedev expressed India's solidarity with Russia. In a statement the Ministry of External Affairs expressed the hope that the perpetrators of these senseless attacks will be brought to justice. New Delhi also reiterated its conviction that only collective efforts by the international community can combat the scourge of terrorism that the world is facing today.

U.S. President Barack Obama offered his condolences to the Russian people. Presuident 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.

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