11 KILLED IN METRO NAIL BOMB HORROR
ATROCITY ON ST PETERSBURG SUBWAY
ELEVEN people were killed and more than 20 injured yesterday when a homemade bomb filled with shrapnel tore through a carriage on a busy Russian underground train.
Terrorists were blamed for the blast, which hit St Petersburg’s Metro system on the day President Vladimir Putin was visiting for a meeting.
The explosive went off in a tunnel between the city centre Sennaya Square and Technology Institute stations at about 2.30pm local time. Counter-terror officials also confirmed they had disarmed a second bomb at another nearby station.
Last night officials were investigating the possibility the first blast was a suicide attack as witnesses described the scenes of horror. Leonid Chaika said: “I saw a lot of smoke, a crowd making its way to the escalators, people with blood and other people’s insides on their clothes, bloody faces. Many were crying.” Another male witness said: “People appeared to have been burned in some way and many were shouting in pain. “They were very scared and in shock. There was a lot of blood and people had been seriously hurt. “It was made worse by the panic. Some of those affected were running away. Maybe they thought there would be another bomb.” Video taken at Technology Institute station showed injured and bloodied people on the platform, some being treated by emergency services. Others fled
amid clouds of smoke, many screaming or holding their faces.
A huge hole was blown open in the side of one of the carriages with wreckage strewn across the platform.
Passengers still stuck on the train were seen hammering at the windows.
Russian TV said victims had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal.
Security forces were yesterday trying to hunt down the attackers, who were thought to be Islamist rebels.
Mr Putin, who was born in St Petersburg and was visiting for a meeting, expressed his condolences to the victims and said he was considering all possible causes for the blast. The ex-KGB man said investigators considered it a terrorist attack “first of all”.
He added: “Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened.” Mr Putin placed a bouquet outside the Technology Institute station, while other wellwishers left tributes and lit candles.
Last night Moscow’s deputy mayor Maksim Liksutov confirmed authorities were tightening security on the capital’s subway system. And St Petersburg governor Georgy
Poltavchenko said in an address to the city: “I appeal to you citizens of St Petersburg and guests of our city to be alert, attentive and cautious and to behave in a responsible matter in light of events.”
An attack on St Petersburg, Russia’s old imperial capital, could be symbolic for any rebel group opposing Russia’s military interventions.
As prime minister, Mr Putin launched a 1999 campaign to crush a separatist government in the Muslim southern region of Chechnya, and as president continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion. Russian troops have also been supporting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in battling rebel groups and Islamic State fighters.
Just days before the blast, posters purportedly from IS warned: “Russia will burn.” One showed an IS fighter standing in front of the Kremlin with the caption “kill them where you find them”, while another encouraged supporters to launch strikes on Moscow.
Yesterday other countries stepped up security amid fear of copycat terror attacks. France boosted security at public transport locations in Paris.
The interior ministry said: “Amid an extremely high terrorism threat, the government continues to take measures to protect the French people.”