Blast Kills at Least 7 in Central Moscow

M O S C O W, Aug. 8, 2000 -- A bomb ripped through a busy underground walkway packed with hundreds of commuters and shoppers in central Moscow today, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.

A second bomb was found and defused near the scene of the blastat Pushkin Square, the Interfax news agency reported.

Police said it was being treated as a terrorist attack, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Immediate suspicion centered on Chechen rebel forces, with police already on alert for possible attacks by Chechen separatists to mark the Aug. 6, 1996, anniversary of the rebels’ capture of the Chechen capital of Grozny.

Moscow’s Mayor Yuri Luzhkov today said the blast was “100 percent Chechnya” and that two young men were the prime suspects.

Speaking on NTV private television, Luzhkov said there was an “obvious Chechen connection” to the blast. “The testimony from several witnesses who were able to answer questions in hospital shows...it was 100 percent Chechnya,” Luzhkov said.

Earlier, Russian television said police were searching for two men from the Caucasus region and Interfax news agency quoted Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo as saying that law enforcement agencies had descriptions of the suspects.

Luzhkov said witnesses had reported that two young men had begun bargaining in one of the small shops in the underpass and had then gone to change money, leaving a bag behind them. He said the explosion happened soon after.

Chaos in the Streets

Medical workers treated badly injured people lying in the road.Wounded pedestrians, their clothes burned and shredded and coveredin blood, staggered out of the passageway as other people ran forcover.

Natalya Zulumatova, the ends of her hair singed and herankles stained with blood, said she was inside one of the smallkiosks which line the inside of the passage when the blast hitjust after 6 p.m.

“We were inside the stand. We heard a bang and the lightswent out. I was hit by the blast wave,” she said. “There wassmoke all over the place. We all managed to get out in thesmoke. I saw many injured people.”

Maria Korzhenikova, a 19-year-old saleswoman was working in a cosmetics kiosk in the passageway when the blast hit.

“I was sitting reading a book ... then the lights went out. Thedoor I was supposed to go through was jammed. It was pitch dark, Iclimbed through a window,” she said.

She had a shrapnel wound on her shoulder and her face wascovered in dust as she wandered around dazed.

Yevgeny Karamyan, his face covered with ash and dust, saidhe was walking past the entrance when the explosion occurred.

“I heard a roar. In the first second I could not understandwhat had happened,” he said. “I saw injured people.”

A Crowded Area, at a Crowded Time

Half an hour after the blast, smoke was still pouring from the underground passage, jammed with shops selling everything from cosmetics to compact discs and leather goods. The entranceto the passage was completely blackened.

The blast ripped through the walkway at the start of the evening rush hour.The area is one of the busiest in Moscow, adjoining two major streets and three subway stations.

It leads to Moscow’s crowded Pushkin square in the center of the capital and is just hundreds of meters from the Kremlin.

A young girl sat listlessly next to a pool of blood on anadjacent sidewalk. Her hands were covered in black.

Clusters of people wandered dazed through the square, somelooking for relatives.

“I don’t know what happened,” wailed one of two women,looking grimly across the square. “I was supposed to meet mymother here.”

Eyewitnesses said dozens of police on the scene had closed off Tverskaya Street, the main thoroughfare in central Moscow. They held back frightened onlookers as smoke gushed from the passageway.

Traffic above ground was stopped and entrances to the walkway were closed. Police were placed on heightened alert and ordered to check the many underground passageways around Moscow.

Anniversary JittersInterior Minister Vladimir Rushailo has informed PresidentVladimir Putin of the explosion, Interfax said.

Police have stepped up security across Russia, especially inthe country’s North Caucasus region, fearful of renewed attacksby Chechen rebels.

Moscow and other Russian cities have been jittery since a series of apartment bombings last fall killed about 300 people. The Kremlin blamed the bombings on Chechen rebels and sent troops intoChechnya a few weeks later. The Chechens deny the charge.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.