Dozens killed in Moscow bombing
Two female suicide bombers have blown themselves up on the Moscow underground rail system during rush hour on the morning of Monday, 29 March, killing at least 35 people and injuring a further 51. Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Russia’s capital city, told reporters that the bombs had been detonated as trains were approaching the platforms of the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations. Yuri Syomin, the head of the Moscow prosecutor’s office, said: “Investigators are at the scene and people from bomb department who are working there. The figures are not final yet. Now is the time to save people.” Blame for the blasts has initially been given to insurgents from Russia’s volatile republics of the North Caucusus, where Russian security forces and intelligence agencies have waged a campaign against Islamist insurgents in the regions of Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. The underground rail system beneath Moscow carries around seven million passengers each working day, making it one of the world’s busiest. In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, ITIJ spoke to Lee Niblett, head of corporate intelligence for red24, about advice the company is giving to its clients who were in Russia at the time. Niblett said that the company is currently advising its clients to account for all Moscow-based/visiting staff, use extreme caution if they need to use the public transport system, avoid the vicinity of the stations where the bombs went off, and to anticipate increased security and checkpoints around Moscow and allow for additional travel time. Niblett continued: “We are not advising against travel to Moscow (or Russia) at this time. However, incidents this morning are indicative of the terrorism risk in Russia, a threat that red24 assesses to be ‘high’. Despite recent successes by Russian security forces, there is a continued risk of militant attacks across the country.” For the moment, the company’s operational posture stands at ‘advisory’, and there are no clients that appear to have been caught up directly in the bombings.
Two female suicide bombers have blown themselves up on the Moscow underground rail system during rush hour on the morning of Monday, 29 March, killing at least 35 people and injuring a further 51. Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Russia’s capital city, told reporters that the bombs had been detonated as trains were approaching the platforms of the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations.
Yuri Syomin, the head of the Moscow prosecutor’s office, said: “Investigators are at the scene and people from bomb department who are working there. The figures are not final yet. Now is the time to save people.”
Blame for the blasts has initially been given to insurgents from Russia’s volatile republics of the North Caucusus, where Russian security forces and intelligence agencies have waged a campaign against Islamist insurgents in the regions of Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. The underground rail system beneath Moscow carries around seven million passengers each working day, making it one of the world’s busiest.
In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, ITIJ spoke to Lee Niblett, head of corporate intelligence for red24, about advice the company is giving to its clients who were in Russia at the time. Niblett said that the company is currently advising its clients to account for all Moscow-based/visiting staff, use extreme caution if they need to use the public transport system, avoid the vicinity of the stations where the bombs went off, and to anticipate increased security and checkpoints around Moscow and allow for additional travel time. Niblett continued: “We are not advising against travel to Moscow (or Russia) at this time. However, incidents this morning are indicative of the terrorism risk in Russia, a threat that red24 assesses to be ‘high’. Despite recent successes by Russian security forces, there is a continued risk of militant attacks across the country.” For the moment, the company’s operational posture stands at ‘advisory’, and there are no clients that appear to have been caught up directly in the bombings.