Chief suspect is rebel who claimed suicide attacks on Metro

A "black widow" terrorist is suspected of being one of the two people who set off explosives in the arrivals hall at Moscow's Domodedovo airport yesterday.

The name Black Widow is given to the wives of Islamist extremists killed by the Russian security forces in Chechnya and other republics in the unstable North Caucasus region.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the airport atrocity, analysts in the US believe it is the work of Doku Umarov, a rebel leader who is fighting to establish an "Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus".

Umarov's group, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing by two women that killed 40 in the Moscow metro last year, is thought to have links to al Qaeda.

As the Russian authorities sift through the wreckage of the airport attack, it is clear that the bombing has highlighted an unpleasant truth for the Kremlin: despite ruthless counter-terrorist actions in Russia's southern borderlands, terrorism is actually spreading. According to official figures, terrorist incidents rose by 400 per cent last year. With suicide attacks on the rise, the Russians claim to have killed 300 militants last year including 30 "leaders".

Chechnya, where separatists fought for independence in the Nineties, is now relatively stable after a security crackdown led by a Kremlin-backed strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov.

But the unrest is spreading to previously stable parts of the North Caucasus, a mainly Muslim region conquered by Russia in the 19th century. The failure of Moscow to create jobs, root out corruption and create a sense that Muslims have a place in the Russian state makes the North Caucasus a fertile recruiting ground. The ruthlessness of the Russian army does not win it many friends.

The Kremlin likes to give the impression that it has beaten terrorism, and that Russia is open for business. President Dmitry Medvedev is even asking foreign investors to back a £10 billion plan to build five ski resorts in the region.

But if Russia is going to make a success of hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014 and the World Cup in 2018, it needs to take a more coordinated approach to dealing with the rebels.

* Alan Philps is a writer on Russian affairs