Moscow mourns, Russian bombing toll rises to 39
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
MOSCOW, Mar 30 (Reuters): Moscow observed an official day of mourning Tuesday and nervous commuters returned to the metro, while the death toll from twin suicide bombings on the capital's underground railway rose by one to 39 people.
Flags across Moscow flew at half-mast and somber Muscovites laid flowers and lit candles at the stations hit by the blasts blamed on North Caucasus rebels.
The police presence was stepped up at Moscow metro stations, and security was tightened on the networks in cities from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk in Siberia, local media reported.
Entertainment programs on radio and television were dropped as Moscow observed the official day of mourning for the victims of the deadliest attack to strike the city in six years that was carried out by two female bombers.
Morning commuters warily entered the busy metro system a day after the rush-hour blasts on packed trains at two central stations -- Lubyanka and Park Kultury.
Makeshift memorials were set up at both stations.
At Park Kultury, people left red carnations and tied white ribbons to a stand on the platform close to where the bomb went off. Some commuters crossed themselves as they passed by.
The attacks sent a stark message to President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Some papers said the attack represented a failure of the government's security policy. They wrote that years of official propaganda had lulled Russians into thinking there was little to fear from the Islamist insurgency in the turbulent and mainly Muslim North Caucasus.
Meanwhile, AFP adds: Russian police were Tuesday hunting for clues from the North Caucasus over the origins and identities of two female suicide bombers who killed 39 by blowing themselves up on the Moscow metro.
All that remained of the two women were mutilated body parts after they detonated explosives strapped to their bodies within 40 minutes of each other on trains at two Moscow metro stations early Monday.
Flags across Moscow flew at half-mast and somber Muscovites laid flowers and lit candles at the stations hit by the blasts blamed on North Caucasus rebels.
The police presence was stepped up at Moscow metro stations, and security was tightened on the networks in cities from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk in Siberia, local media reported.
Entertainment programs on radio and television were dropped as Moscow observed the official day of mourning for the victims of the deadliest attack to strike the city in six years that was carried out by two female bombers.
Morning commuters warily entered the busy metro system a day after the rush-hour blasts on packed trains at two central stations -- Lubyanka and Park Kultury.
Makeshift memorials were set up at both stations.
At Park Kultury, people left red carnations and tied white ribbons to a stand on the platform close to where the bomb went off. Some commuters crossed themselves as they passed by.
The attacks sent a stark message to President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Some papers said the attack represented a failure of the government's security policy. They wrote that years of official propaganda had lulled Russians into thinking there was little to fear from the Islamist insurgency in the turbulent and mainly Muslim North Caucasus.
Meanwhile, AFP adds: Russian police were Tuesday hunting for clues from the North Caucasus over the origins and identities of two female suicide bombers who killed 39 by blowing themselves up on the Moscow metro.
All that remained of the two women were mutilated body parts after they detonated explosives strapped to their bodies within 40 minutes of each other on trains at two Moscow metro stations early Monday.