Moscow in Panic after Two Explosions in the Metro

Residents of Moscow arrive to Lubyanka station of the city in an attempt to find their relatives, who may have been either injured or killed in the latest terrorist attacks.

Photo: Moscow in Panic after Two Explosions in the Metro

Several crying women were trying to enter the station, but were stopped by police officers, Pravda.Ru reports.

“An explosive device blew up in the car of the metro train on the Park Kultury station. The power of the bomb was equal to two kilograms of TNT. The investigation conducted on the site of the explosion showed that the bomb exploded at the height of 100-120 centimeters above the floor of the car, which means that it had been fixed on the body of a suicide terrorist. The remains of the terrorist found on the site allowed us to conclude that it was a woman,” a law-enforcement official told RIA Novosti news agency.

Twenty-three people were killed in the terrorist act on Lubyanka station; 18 were injured. Twelve were killed in the other explosion on the Park Kultury station, 15 were injured.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was informed of the explosions in the Moscow metro. Putin is currently away from Moscow: he is making a work visit to the city of Krasnoyarsk, in Russia’s Siberia.

Moscow ’s Chief Prosecutor Yury Semin said that it was too early to speak about the final number of victims.

Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Bureau, FSB, informed President Medvedev of the attacks. Criminal case has been filed into the terrorist acts in accordance with Article 205 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation - Terrorism.

Eyewitnesses said that the explosions on two central stations of the Moscow Metro resulted in a stampede on other neighboring stations.

“I heard some people were injured in the stampede. There were thousands of people in the entrance hall of the Komsomolskaya station (the key station for Moscow’s three major railway stations). The passengers arriving from the railway stations were proceeding from commuter trains to the metro to find themselves in a trap,” a Russian blogger wrote.

“I nearly found myself in hell today. I entered the Lubyanka station and stopped to buy a ticket in the office. The next moment I heard a bang. I didn’t pay attention to it at first, grabbed a newspaper and stepped on the escalator to go down to the platform. I saw people on the opposite escalator screaming, some people were shaking white dust off their clothes. Then there was the smoke. I did not go anywhere further and turned back up. I went out to the street and then saw people coming out of the station. Many of them were all covered with dust, some had their clothes torn to pieces. I saw a man with a piece of meat stuck to his shoulder,” an eyewitness wrote.

Russia Today: Law-enforcers pursue possible causes of Moscow bombings