Agencies -- Arab News

MOSCOW, 7 February 2004 — A woman blew herself up in a packed Moscow underground train in the rush hour yesterday, killing at least 39 passengers and injuring more than 100.

The Interfax news agency, citing unnamed police sources, said the attack, which occurred five weeks before Russia’s presidential vote, was carried out by a female suicide bomber. Police have a videotape of the suspected attacker and her alleged accomplice standing on the metro platform before boarding the train, Interfax reported. Police issued a composite sketch of a man accused of involvement in the bombing.

President Vladimir Putin accused Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov of being behind the explosion. “We do not need any indirect confirmation. We know for certain that Maskhadov and his bandits are linked to this terrorism,” he told reporters.

But a spokesman for the fugitive separatist leader denied Maskhadov’s involvement in what he described as “a bloody provocation” and condemned the explosion.

The blast occurred at 8.30 a.m. in the second carriage as the train bringing commuters into the city sped through a tunnel toward Moscow’s busy Paveletskaya station.

“As of now, there are 39 dead and 129 people being treated for injuries in hospital,” Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin told reporters.

Moscow Deputy Mayor Valery Shantsev said the blast had been caused by five kg (nearly 11 lbs) of explosives.

One woman said survivors walked about two kilometers along the tracks to safety after clambering out of the train that had been crammed with morning commuters traveling into the capital.

“I heard a terrible explosion and almost fell over,” said 18-year-old student Alexander Maksimov, his face pale and hands shaking. “My first thought was to run outside to the fresh air, but from the shock I could hardly move.”

Nobody knew what happened as the metro lights went dark and the flames and suffocating smoke spread through a tunnel just kilometers away from Putin’s Kremlin office.

Many had one thought on their mind: The attack was probably linked to Chechen fighters. And Some blamed authorities for being unable to guarantee people’s security.

“It’s all Chechnya, it’s all Chechnya!” shouted Lena, a shop worker outside the train station near the site of the bombing. “We hate them, let’s kill them all!”

“Who is going to protect us? How are you going to save our children?” she shouted at a man wearing an FSB jacket nearby.

Moscow police spokesman Kirill Mazurin told Rossiya television that after the explosion, the train traveled for about 500 meters before coming to a stop. The line that the explosion occurred on is one of Moscow’s deepest.

“I heard a loud sound like a large firecracker and smoke filled the car,” said Ilya Blokhin, 31, a doctor who was on the train’s last but one car. “What are our country and government and police going to do when they blow up crowded subway cars?”

A woman identified only as Maria, blood covering her face, told Russian television that for a long time after the explosion, passengers were unable to open the door of the subway car.

Suicide bomb attacks in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia have been the trademark of Chechen separatists.

A statement signed by Akhmed Zakayev on the website www.chechenpress.info said: “The president and government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria hereby declare that they are in no way connected to this bloody provocation and unequivocally condemn it.”