Suicide Bombs Kill 36 on Moscow Subway

MOSCOW -- The head of Russia's main security agency says Caucasus rebels are believed to have carried out two suicide bombings on Moscow's subway system that killed 36 people.

Officials say two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on trains as the subway was packed with rush-hour passengers Monday morning.

In a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, the head of the Federal Security Service said preliminary investigation points to terrorists connected to the restive Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.

Alexander Bortnikov said the assessment was based on fragments of the bombers' bodies. He didn't elaborate.

Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Chumikova said 23 people were killed in an explosion shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency.

A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later. Chumikova said at least 12 were dead there. The ministry later said 38 people were injured.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said both explosions were believed to have been set off on the trains.

"The first data that the FSB has given us is that there were two female suicide bombers," Luzhkov told reporters at the Park Kultury site.

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