Women bombers explode in Moscow killing 37

Washington Post:

Two suicide bombers, possibly women, set off explosions in separate subway stations in central Moscow during the morning rush hour Monday, killing at least 37 people and injuring more than 60 others in what officials said was the deadliest and most sophisticated terrorist attack in the Russian capital in six years.

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Officials said the first explosion occurred shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka subway station, located underneath the building that houses the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main successor of the Soviet-era intelligence and internal security agency known as the KGB. At least 24 people died in the blast.

The second explosion took place about 40 minutes later at the Park Kultury station, on the same line four stops away, killing at least 12 people. A police spokesman said the bomber was wearing a belt packed with explosives and detonated it as the trains' doors opened. It was not immediately clear where the 37th reported victim was killed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin bombings, but Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB, said the attacks appeared to have been committed by "terrorist groups linked to the North Caucasus," the multiethnic region in southwestern Russia where federal forces have been trying to suppress a separatist insurgency waged by Islamic militants.

He said the explosive devices had been "stuffed with cut wire and bolts to make them more harmful," adding that evidence at the scene suggested both bombers were women. Local media quoted unidentified police sources as saying investigators had reviewed surveillance footage and were searching for individuals who had accompanied the suspects to the subway stations.

In a video posted on the Internet in February, rebel leader Doku Umarov warned that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia" and that "blood will no longer be limited to our cities and towns" in the North Caucasus. He also claimed responsibility for the bombing of a luxury train between Moscow and St. Petersburg in November, which caused a derailment that killed 28 people.

"The war is coming to their cities," he said. "If Russians think the war only happens on television, somewhere far away in the Caucasus, where it can't reach them, then God willing, we plan to show them that the war will return to their homes."

Alexander Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, told reporters that the bombings may have been planned in retaliation for recent raids by security forces in the North Caucasus, which includes Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan.

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It does appear to be a mass murder for Allah operation by Islamic rebels. Russia has had mixed results dealing with these rebels. It has mostly killed them when it could find them. The Russians do not appear to be much into counterinsurgency operations. One of the problems is the space is so large, it is almost impossible for them to get an adequate force to space ratio needed for counterinsurgencies. The battles quickly descend into mutual brutality, and the Russians generally get the upper hand because of better weapons, ruthlessly applied.