Russian officials seek greater security after subway blast

MOSCOW -- Russian officials renewed calls Saturday for tighter security checks in Moscow after a subway bombing killed 39 people, moves that could worsen ethnic tensions as blame for the attack fell on Chechen rebels.

Officials strongly suspected the Friday morning rush-hour blast was a suicide bombing, and President Vladimir Putin pointed to insurgents fighting Russian troops for Chechen independence for most of the last decade.

The bomb ripped through a packed subway car after it left the Avtozavodskaya station and headed for the city center, shattering windows throughout the train and leaving the carriage a hulk of twisted metal.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said the bomb appeared to have exploded about 20 inches above the floor, indicating it was in a bag or briefcase held by a rider.

He said registration procedures for people traveling into the Russian capital would be "sharply, powerfully strengthened." Security was tightened at Moscow's train stations and airports.

Tighter security would target most foreigners but also people from the southern Russian republic of Chechnya and others of North Caucasian appearance. Those ethnic groups are already subject to frequent document checks, scrutiny that has intensified after suicide bombings and other attacks in Moscow in recent years.

Some worried the event's aftermath would raise already strong biases against Chechens.

No claims of responsibility have been made for the subway attack, the worst terrorist attack in Moscow in five years.

Putin linked the attack to Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected Chechen president in 1997.

Maskhadov's foreign envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, denied the Chechen leader was involved.

Police released a composite sketch based on a videotape from the subway station nearest to the blast, showing a woman believed to be the bomber and her accomplice standing on the platform before boarding the train.

Chechnya's chief mufti, or Muslim spiritual leader, condemned the blast. "There are no goals that can justify terrorism and the murder of peaceful civilians," Akhmad Shamayev was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Putin called the attack a failed attempt to sow discord before March 14 presidential elections he is widely expected to win. His popular, tough image is based partly on his refusal to negotiate with the Chechen rebels.

The attack was the bloodiest in Moscow's subway, the world's busiest with an average 8.5 million riders a day. A bombing in a Moscow subway car in 1996 killed four people.

In December, a suicide bomber blew herself up across from Moscow's Red Square, killing at least five bystanders. Two suicide bombers killed 14 other people at a Moscow rock concert last July.

The deadliest terrorist bombings in Moscow occurred in 1999, when more than 200 people were killed in two apartment house blasts. Those explosions were among the events that prompted the Kremlin to launch the second military campaign in Chechnya.

In October 2002, 129 hostages died when Chechen rebels stormed a Moscow theater. Almost all the victims died from the knockout gas that Russian forces pumped into the theater to end the siege.