Twin Blasts at Moscow Metro Station Kill 34

At least 34 people have been killed and dozens others injured as two bomb blasts ripped through the busy Moscow metro during rush hour, said media reports.

First explosion tore through one of the carriages as the train was entering the Lubyanka station in central Moscow and killed commuters onboard as well as people standing on the platform, said reports.

Reports said that nearly 17 people were injured in the blast.

According to Veronika Smolskaya, Moscow Emergency Ministry spokeswoman, first blast killed 22 persons, reports said.

A second explosion at the busy Park Kultyry metro station located close to Moscow’s famous Gorky Park followed soon afterwards, said reports.

Smolskaya said that nearly 12 were killed in second explosion, reports said.

There is no confirmation on explosions but reports said citing unnamed security sources that suspected suicide bombers from the volatile North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya could be responsible for blasts according to early indications.

If this turns out to be true, it would be for the first time that they struck the Moscow metro since 2004.

In the meanwhile, prosecutors immediately opened a criminal case and said they would be working on the ground that blasts were the handiwork of terrorists, said reports.

The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, the KGB’s main successor agency.

Islamist rebels seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate on Russia’s southern tip have largely confined their attacks to the North Caucasus area they want to control in recent years.

(Based on internet reports)