Moscow Metro bombing masterminds ‘will be destroyed’

The masterminds behind a double suicide bombing on the Moscow Metro will be destroyed, Russia’s leaders have said. The attacks, in the morning rush hour, killed at least 38 people and injured more than 60, officials say. No group has claimed responsibility but security services have blamed rebels from the North Caucasus – a region including Chechnya and Ingushetia.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to find those responsible, saying: “Terrorists will be destroyed.” He described the attacks, believed to have been carried out by female bombers, as “heinous”.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the scene of one of the attacks and laid a wreath, labelled those behind the attack “animals” and said: “We will find and destroy them all.” The Moscow city government declared Tuesday would be a day of mourning. Past suicide bombings in Moscow have been carried out by – or blamed on – Islamist rebels fighting for independence from Russia in Chechnya.

A Chechen rebel leader recently promised to bring the war to Russia’s cities, months after Mr Medvedev declared an end to Moscow’s “anti-terrorism operations” in the mainly Muslim republic. More than 100,000 people have been killed in 15 years of conflict in Chechnya and low-level insurgencies continue there and in the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan.

more: BBC News – Moscow Metro bombing masterminds ‘will be destroyed’

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