Russia increases security level after public transport terror alert

RUSSIA stepped up security in major cities yesterday, deploying thousands of extra police and urging public vigilance, a day after officials warned of a possible terrorist threat on public transport.

In Moscow, which was last hit by terrorist attacks in 2004, officials took the unusual step of ordering mobile phone services shut off in the underground system in what appeared to be an effort to avert the possibility of explosives being detonated by cell phone.

Uniformed police, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, patrolled underground stations, train stations and other sites around Moscow, checking documents and standing guard at entrances. Public announcements asked passengers to be alert to suspicious items.

On Tuesday, the Federal Security Service said the national anti-terrorism committee had received information from foreign countries about the possibility of a terrorist act involving ground transport and subways.

The Kremlin’s top official in charge of counter-terrorism cooperation, Anatoly Safonov, said the tip-off had come from intelligence agencies of several countries, Interfax reported.

Moscow’s three main international airports introduced stricter passenger checks and additional police patrols of air terminals.

Russian television showed a heightened police presence at other towns around the country.

A top police official, interior ministry Col Gen Nikolai Rogozhkin, was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying that 5,000 extra police officers had been dispatched to protect public transport in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major centres — including 1,000 in the capital.

Several Russian cities have underground systems, though Moscow’s is one of the world’s busiest.