Monday, January 24, 2011

Moscow bombing


Moscow bombing: Medvedev in Domodedovo airport pledge

BBC.

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CCTV footage shows the blast as passengers walked through the airport

Related stories

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to track down and punish those behind an apparent suicide bomb attack at Moscow's Domodedovo airport killed 35 people and injured more than 100.
Two Britons were among those killed as the blast rocked the international arrivals terminal at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday afternoon.
Unnamed officials said three suspects were being sought over the attack.
Suspicion has fallen on Russia's restive North Caucasus region.
Last March the Russian capital's underground system was rocked by two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region, who detonated their explosives on the busy metro system during rush hour, killing 40 people and injuring more than 80.
Militant groups fighting in the Caucasus know how important the perception that the president and prime minister provide a secure society is, and to undermine that is a key aspect of their aims, analysts say.
Police sources have hinted that the Domodedovo airport bombing may be linked to Russia's most volatile region.
Thick drops of blood
Monday's explosion rocked in the airport's busy international arrivals hall in a public area where friends and drivers meet passengers who have passed through customs.
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Austrian traveller Dr Johann Hammerer: "Injured people were lying on trolleys"
Eyewitnesses told Russian TV that before a bomber detonated the equivalent of 7kg (15lb) of TNT, he had shouted: "I'll kill you all!"
Scenes of panic ensued as the area filled with smoke, with bodies strewn across the floor.
Thick drops of blood and pieces of shrapnel were scattered across the snow-covered tarmac outside the hall, and emergency workers used luggage trolleys to ferry the dead and injured from the scene to hospitals in Moscow, 40km (25 miles) to the north-west.
Mr Medvedev has vowed a thorough investigation.

Militant attacks in Russia

• Oct 2010 - Six people killed as militants storm parliament in Chechnya, North Caucasus
• Mar 2010 - Suicide bombings at two Moscow metro stations kill 40 people; attack blamed on North Caucasus militants
• Nov 2009 - Bomb blast hits Moscow-St Petersburg luxury express train, killing 26; North Caucasus Islamist group claims responsibility
• Sept 2004 - Chechen rebels seize school in Beslan; 334 hostages, including many children, killed in ensuing battle
• Aug 2004 - Suicide bomber blows herself up at a Moscow metro station, killing 10
• Aug 2004 - Two Tupolev airliners that took off from Domodedovo blown up in mid-air by suicide bombers, killing 89 passengers and crew
"After previous similar events, we passed appropriate legislation, and we have to check how it has been applied," he said. "Because obviously there have been lapses, and we have to get to the bottom of this."
He has admitted that poverty, corruption and conflict in the North Caucasus is Russia's biggest internal problem.
He ordered increased security across Russia's capital, its airports and other transport hubs.
But he, like Vladimir Putin before him, appears unable to find a solution that would bring stability to that region and peace to Russia, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
Mr Putin has built much of his reputation on a tough security stance to crack down on such violence.
More generally, security authorities internationally have been concerned that - while there is been a huge effort focused on airline passenger and airliner security - keeping airports and airport terminals themselves secure remains a major challenge.
The EU, US and UK were among those who condemned the attack, offering their support to the mourning Russian nation.
"We should never allow the terrorists to win," said UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
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