U.S. Police on Alert After Russia Blasts
(Moscow blast story updated with more details on heightened security in New York.)
NEW YORK (
) -- At least 35 people were killed and dozens hurt when two female suicide bombers detonated themselves in the fully-packed Moscow underground during morning rush hour Monday. Meanwhile, subway riders in New York and Washington are seeing more security today on the heels of the attack.
Emergency Ministry officers and firefighters carry equipment in downtown Moscow on Monday.
The first explosion occurred at the Lubyanka subway station near the Russian State Security Service headquarters; the second blast occurred at the Park Kultury station close to Moscow's Gorky Amusement Park roughly 40 minutes later.
In this image from security cameras, emergency workers can be seen as bodies still lie in the passageway of the Lubyanka subway station in central Moscow after the bomb blast.
Officials say both devices combined contained about six kilograms of TNT.
So far, no individuals or organizations have come forward to declare responsibility for the blasts, but officials suspect the suicide bombers to be ethnic minorities in Russia's Caucasus region of Chechnya, where separatists have been seeking independence from Russia; those separatists have been blamed for at least five other subway attacks in Moscow.
People pass by an OMON riot police officer while leaving the Park Kultury subway station in Moscow Monday.
Monday's bombing could be a revenge killing for the announced deaths of two Muslim rebel leaders from the Northern Caucasus, according to
Voice of America
.
The leaders are said to be connected to a Chechen Muslim leader sought by Russia on terrorism, kidnapping and murder charges.
A member of New York's TORCH counterterrorism unit patrols with a dog during the morning commute at Grand Central Station in New York, Monday. New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority beefed up security as a precaution Monday following the suicide bombing in Moscow's subway system.
New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it has a "heightened security presence," but a spokesman wouldn't elaborate. New York police say they significantly upped coverage during the morning rush hour in response to the Russian bombing. The MTA is in charge of New York City buses and subways, as well as suburban trains, bridges and tunnels.
Meanwhile, the New York Police Department issued a statement saying it was increasing coverage of the subway system as a precaution ''in response to the Moscow bombings.'' Caravans of police vehicles were dispatched to transit hubs, and officers assigned to subways overnight were held in place so they overlapped with the day tour.
Counterterrorism officers stationed at Grand Central Station in New York watch commuters as they exit the subway, Monday.
''That significantly bolstered police coverage at rush hour this morning,'' said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. Special units distinguished by their special black uniforms, helmets and body armor also were assigned to transit facilities.
Responses to the increased security were varied among subway commuters. Some barely noticed it, while others were especially acute to it. ''I'm a little wary,'' John Villegas, 48, said at Pennsylvania Station as he waited for a train home to Woodbridge, N.J. He said he used to work near the World Trade Center. ''I do not feel safe right now. It's a little scary.''
-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York
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