Women suicide bombers kill 38 on Moscow Underground

It was shortly before 8am as millions of commuters made their way to work when the first device exploded. A woman on a packed metro train detonated a bomb strapped to her waist.

The service had stopped at Lubyanka station in central Moscow when the blast ripped through its second carriage. The headquarters of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, is immediately above the station.

At least 24 people — both on the train and on the packed platform — were killed. The horror was caught on CCTV cameras, with passengers fleeing for their lives amid the smoke and mangled bodies. Emergency services began evacuating the network — but the Moscow metro is one of the world's busiest, carrying 5.5 million passengers a day, almost twice as many as London. Many were travelling, unaware of the first blast, when a second device was detonated 40 minutes later at Park Kultury, near Gorky Park, by another woman suicide bomber. This killed at least 14.

Some who escaped the first bomb had changed trains and headed into the path of the second, which was triggered as the packed train's doors opened.

The force of the blasts was equivalent to about 3kg of TNT explosives each. Reports said the bombs were filled with bolts and iron rods.

At least 64 people were injured, with helicopters taking the most serious casualties to hospital.

Alexander Vakulov, 24, who was on a train opposite the one targeted at Park Kultury, said: "I heard a bang, turned my head and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming."

A student at Moscow's Institute of Foreign Relations said: "After the Lubyanka explosion there were almost no trains to the south where I needed to go. So when the train came lots of people got inside. I got into the very first carriage, so we reached Park Kultury station, many people left, many more came in, the crush was enormous.

"The doors were about to shut when the blast came and I saw how the windows shook. People rushed out of the carriage. I saw a woman fall down and others were just stepping on her and running forwards. I got out of the carriage and helped this woman to stand up.

"I did not see any flame, only slight smoke, people around were shouting, Let's get out of here, come on, run,' but I can't say it was a crazy panic. People just pushed each other slightly."

A newspaper seller at Park Kultury station said passengers ran out of the station, their faces black with soot. "I saw a girl with scratches all over her legs and a man with bleeding head," he said.

The bombings were being linked to the conflict in the southern Caucasus region, where the Kremlin has been trying to suppress Islamist insurgents in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said: "Body parts belonging to two female suicide bombers were found ... and according to initial data, these persons are linked to the North Caucasus."

Police hope to identify the bombers because their faces were not destroyed by the explosions.

There was speculation the pair may have boarded a train together at a station in south-west Moscow.

Muscovites fear the attacks were the work of "black widows"— wives of men killed by Russia in two wars in Chechnya. The tactic was used a decade ago in the Russian capital, and a recent crackdown on militant leaders may have sparked this latest attack. Only last month the leader of the Chechen rebels, Doka Umarov, had warned that the fight would be taken to the heart of Russia. "The war is coming to their cities," he said.

One of the woman suspects seen at Park Kultury station was said to be aged between 18 and 24. She wore a black dress and had dark curly hair.

CCTV images suggest they were accompanied by other women. There were also claims of a belt being found with an unexploded bomb. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said: "We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end."

Prime minister Vladimir Putin cut short a trip to Siberia, saying: "A crime that is terrible in its consequences and heinous in its manner has been committed. I am confident that law enforcement bodies will spare no effort to track down and punish the criminals. Terrorists will be destroyed."

Gordon Brown said he was "appalled" by the blasts. A spokesman said the Prime Minister had sent a message of "condolence and support" to Mr Medvedev and his sympathies went to the bereaved and their families.