Moscow bombing: Medvedev in Domodedovo airport pledge

MOSCOW. January 25. KAZINFORM. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to track down and punish those behind an apparent suicide bomb attack at Moscow's Domodedovo airport killed 35 people and injured more than 100.

Two Britons were among those killed as the blast rocked the international arrivals terminal at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday afternoon.

Unnamed officials said three suspects were being sought over the attack.

Suspicion has fallen on Russia's restive North Caucasus region.

Last March the Russian capital's underground system was rocked by two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region, who detonated their explosives on the busy metro system during rush hour, killing 40 people and injuring more than 80.

Militant groups fighting in the Caucasus know how important the perception that the president and prime minister provide a secure society is, and to undermine that is a key aspect of their aims, analysts say.

Police sources have hinted that the Domodedovo airport bombing may be linked to Russia's most volatile region.

Thick drops of blood

Monday's explosion rocked in the airport's busy international arrivals hall in a public area where friends and drivers meet passengers who have passed through customs.

Eyewitnesses told Russian TV that before a bomber detonated the equivalent of 7kg (15lb) of TNT, he had shouted: "I'll kill you all!"

Scenes of panic ensued as the area filled with smoke, with bodies strewn across the floor.

Thick drops of blood and pieces of shrapnel were scattered across the snow-covered tarmac outside the hall, and emergency workers used luggage trolleys to ferry the dead and injured from the scene to hospitals in Moscow, 40km (25 miles) to the north-west.

Mr Medvedev has vowed a thorough investigation.

"After previous similar events, we passed appropriate legislation, and we have to check how it has been applied," he said. "Because obviously there have been lapses, and we have to get to the bottom of this."

He has admitted that poverty, corruption and conflict in the North Caucasus is Russia's biggest internal problem.

He ordered increased security across Russia's capital, its airports and other transport hubs.

But he, like Vladimir Putin before him, appears unable to find a solution that would bring stability to that region and peace to Russia, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow, Kazinform cites BBC News.

To read more visit www.bbc.co.uk .