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Explosion Kills Dozens in Moscow Airport

   James Brooke | Moscow  24 January 2011
   Medics  wheel  a  victim  of  a  bomb explosion at Moscow's Domodedovo
   airport, 24 Jan 2011

Photo: Reuters

   Medics  wheel  a  victim  of  a  bomb explosion at Moscow's Domodedovo
   airport, 24 Jan 2011

   An  explosion has ripped through the international section of Moscow's
   busiest  airport,  killing  31  people  and wounding about 130, Health
   Ministry officials said.
   RIA  Novosti news service said the explosion may have been caused by a
   suicide  bomber. The state-owned agency estimated the bomb to have the
   explosive force of seven kilograms of TNT.
   Monday afternoon, smoke wafted out of the baggage claim area as people
   ran  out  emergency  exits  at  the  airport.  Witnesses reported that
   wounded people were wheeled from the area on baggage trolleys.
   It  was  the worst attack in Russia capitalās since twin blasts in the
   subway  last  March  killed  40  people and wounded more than 60 more.
   Those bombs were set off by two women from Dagestan, a southern region
   of Russia that has been torn by Islamic-extremist violence.
   Domodedovo  is generally regarded as Moscow's most modern airport, but
   its security procedures have failed in the past.
   In  2004,  two suicide bombers were able to board planes at Domodedovo
   by  buying  tickets illegally from airport personnel. The bombers blew
   themselves up in mid-air, killing 90 people aboard the two flights.
   Russia is battling an Islamist insurgency in the Northern Caucasus. In
   Dagestan,  neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia there are almost daily,
   armed attacks on government and police officials.

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