Moscow Tube bomb kills 40

At least 40 people were killed when a bomb destroyed a packed train carriage on the Moscow underground today.

An intense fire swept through the rest of the train as rescuers struggled to evacuate survivors. Passengers smashed windows to escape. There were fears that the death toll could climb much higher. Russian security services confirmed the blast was the work of a suicide bomber.

The Russian Interfax news agency said the explosion destroyed the second wagon of the train after it left the Paveletskaya station near the centre of the Russian capital.

Police immediately stopped all traffic on the metro. President Vladimir Putin was informed.

Tension in the city, which was already on a state of alert, rose even higher as news of the explosion spread. There have been a series of suicide bombings that officials have blamed on Chechen rebels. A spokeswoman at the emergency ministry said today: "There are injured and dead. Their number is unknown.

"First accounts indicate an explosion on a train between railway stations Paveletskaya and Avtozovodskaya."

More than 150 people suffered from injuries including broken bones, smoke inhalation and burns. Numerous ambulances could be seen outside the entrances to the stations.

Rescue workers carried empty stretchers into the station. Moscow hospitals were put on alert.

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

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a Moscow rock concert in July, killing themselves and 14 other people. That was followed five days later by an aborted suicide-bomb attack at a central Moscow restaurant. A bomb disposal expert was killed trying to defuse the device. The terrorist was arrested and is awaiting trial.

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