Moscow Rattled By Bus Bombings
Police and soldiers were out in force around Moscow on Saturday, while the mayor offered a big reward for information in a pair of bus bombings that have put the capital on edge.
Two dozen people remain hospitalized, eight in serious condition, from Friday’s explosion during the morning rush hour, which injured 28 people.
Extra security was visible in buses, trolleys and subway stations Saturday, with police, soldiers and plainclothes security officers watching for unattended packages and hoping to reassure wary passengers. Thursday’s and Friday’s bombs were hidden in cloth bags slipped onto the buses.
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov promised a new crackdown on vagrants and undesirables and said the city would pay a “huge” reward - he did not specify the amount - to anyone who helps find the perpetrators.
The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the reward might be as high as $1 million, but that could not be confirmed.
Authorities released composite sketches of two dark-haired men they said were seen running from the scene of Friday’s bombing that blew out the front of a bus three miles northeast of the Kremlin.
All police leave was canceled and officers were put on round-the-clock extra shifts. A thousand Interior Ministry soldiers assisted with the patrols, and the Defense Ministry’s elite OMON troops also could be seen with hands on guns near major intersections Saturday.
All metro stations were under guard, the Interior Ministry said, and a fine of $14 was instituted for anyone leaving their belongings in the subway.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings of the electric buses, which are powered by overhead cables. Official suspicion has focused on either criminal gangs or on Chechen separatist rebels, who reiterated on Saturday that they were not involved.
“The statements of the some Russian officials alleging that the acts of terror were organized by the Chechen leadership are not true,” separatist leaders said in a statement delivered to Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency in Ankara, Turkey.
Even without the endorsement of separatist leaders, however, rebel commanders have carried out two hostage-takings outside Chechnya in the past 13 months.
Many Chechens, including the Kremlin-installed leader of Chechnya, have voiced anger about the discrimination they face because of the bombings.
“Unproven accusations must not be pointed at the entire Chechen people because of the helplessness of the law enforcement bodies,” said Mukhadi Israilov, a professor at Moscow State University.
Besides the 33 people injured in the blasts Thursday and Friday, four people were killed June 11 when a bomb went off in a subway car.