Moscow airport suicide blast kills 35

A SUICIDE bomber carrying a suitcase walked into Moscow’s busiest airport yesterday and set off a huge explosion, killing at least 35 people, reportedly including two Britons.

The international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport was engulfed by smoke after the mid-afternoon terror attack sprayed shrapnel, screws and ball bearings at passengers and workers. Hundreds of people were in the loosely guarded area at the time.

President Dmitry Medvedev immediately ordered authorities to beef up security at Moscow’s two other commercial airports and other key transport facilities. He also cancelled plans to fly out to Davos, Switzerland, where he was going to promote Russia as a safe, profitable investment haven to world business leaders.

“Attempts were being made to identify” the suspected male suicide bomber, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, adding that the attacker appeared to have been wearing the explosives in a belt.

The Interfax news agency said the head of the suspected bomber had been found.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, which occurred at 4.32pm local time. But Chechen militants have claimed responsibility for previous terror attacks in Moscow, including a double suicide bombing on the subway in March 2010 that killed 40 people and wounded more than 100.

The latest attack on the Russian capital also called into question Russia’s ability to safely host major international sports events like the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 World Cup. It was the second time in seven years that terrorists had hit Domodedovo Airport. In 2004, suicide bombers penetrated the lax security there, killing 90 people as they blew up two planes.

In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the “outrageous act of terrorism” and offered any assistance Russia might want.

The Emergencies Ministry said 35 people were killed, 86 taken to hospital and 94 given medical treatment. Two Britons were among the dead, Markin said.

Amateur video posted on YouTube showed a pile of bodies on the airport floor, and other bodies scattered around. Luggage lay strewn across the ground and several small fires burned. A dazed man in a suit pushed a baggage cart through the carnage.

Another man in blood-soaked clothes said he was just a few yards (meters) away from the explosion and saw a man who may have been the suicide bomber.

“I saw the suitcase, the suitcase was on fire,” said Artyom Zhilenkov, a 35-year-old driver. “So either the man blew up something, or something went off on the man’s body, or the suitcase went off.”

Zhilenkov said he thought he himself had been injured but doctors said he was just coated in other victims’ blood.

“The guy standing next to me was torn to pieces,” he said.

Car rental agent Alexei Spiridonov, 25, was at his desk when the blast struck about 100 yards (meters) away.

“The explosion was so strong that it threw me against the wall,” he said outside the airport. “People were panicking, rushing out of the hall or looking for their relatives. There were people just lying in blood.”

Yelena Zatserkovnaya, a Lufthansa official, said airport workers used baggage trolleys to cart out the injured.

“There was lots of blood, severed legs flying around,” she said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered health officials to make sure all victims received immediate treatment.

Domodedovo was briefly closed to air traffic immediately after the blast, but soon reopened. Hours later, passengers arriving for their flights lined up outside waiting to pass through metal detectors that had been installed at all entrances.

Domodedovo is 42km southeast of Moscow and is the largest of the three major airports that serve the Russian capital.