Moscow Metro blast toll rises to 41, authorities suspect human bomb involvement

MOSCOW - At least 41 people were reportedly killed in twin explosions on the Metro system in central Moscow on Monday morning.

Following the incident, the Russian administration expressed suspicion over the blast being suicidal in nature.

Moscow’s metro is one of the busiest subways in the world, carrying some 5.5 million passengers a day.

The first blast took place at the Central Lubyanka station, killing at least 26 people.

Another 15 people were killed in a second explosion, at the Park Kultury station.

According to a Moscow Metro release, 14 people were killed in the train and 12 on the platform at Lubyanka. Over 10 people sustained severe injuries.

“The blast hit the second carriage of a metro train that stopped at Lubyanka, said a spokesperson.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters is located just above the Lubyanka station.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said both explosions were believed to have been set off by female suicide bombers as the trains entered the stations.

Moscow Chief Prosecutor Yuri Syomin said the blasts were suicide in nature.

“We can assume that belts with explosive devices were attached to their bodies,” he said.

Though no-group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident, the explosions do appear to have been co-ordinated, said a Russian official.

Suspicion is likely to fall on groups in the troubled North Caucasus region, where Russian security forces are fighting Islamist militants.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is currently visiting Siberia, is monitoring the situatuion with detailed information from security agencies.

The Moscow Emergencies Department said there was no fire and rescue teams have been pressed into service.

There was a major attack on the Moscow Metro in February 2004, when at least 39 people were killed by a bomb on a packed train as it approached the Paveletskaya Metro station.

Six months later, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a station, killing 10 people. Both attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels, who had targeted the capital in the past.

Over the last decade Moscow has been hit by a string of deadly explosions claimed by militants from its turbulent southern region of Chechnya, but this has become less frequent in the last ew years. (ANI)