Moscow metro blast kills 22

This morning's explosion in the Moscow metro has left as many as 22 people dead.

The blast sent clouds of smoke through the tunnel, the Emergency Situation Ministry said.

A severe fire broke out in the train and passengers were being evacuated from the Avtozavodskaya station, said ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov.

He could not confirm that the cause or give any further details about the number of victims.

But the news agency Interfax, citing fire brigade officials, said 22 had died and 30 were injured.

The explosion occurred in the second wagon of a train after it left the Paveletskaya station near the centre of the Russian capital and headed southeast to Avtozavodskaya station.

Police immediately closed the two metro stations and stopped all traffic on the metro, clogging up the capital’s streets. Russian prosecutors said they could not rule out terrorism, but that it was too early to say definitively.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately informed.

The Russian capital has been on alert for terrorist attacks following a series of suicide bombings that officials have blamed on Chechen rebels.

In December, a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the National Hotel across from Moscow’s Red Square killing at least five others.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a Moscow rock concert in July last year, killing themselves and 14 other people.

That was followed five days later by an aborted suicide bomb attack at a central Moscow restaurant that killed the bomb disposal expert trying to defuse it.

The suicide bomber was arrested and is currently awaiting trial.

In August 2000, a bomb exploded at a crowded pedestrian underpass filled with kiosks at Pushkin Square, a popular meeting place located near a metro line.

The attack was initially blamed on Chechen rebels, but some police later said that a turf battle between rival businessmen or criminal gangs could have been the motive.