Two suspected terrorists bombings hit Moscow this morning, at least 38 people are dead.  The suicide bombings were carried out by female bombers.  One was detonated around 8:00 AM Moscow time and killed 24 people (as of now), and the other was detonated about 40 minutes later killing an additional 17 people.  Both bombs struck the Moscow Metro subway train and/or stations.  No group yet has claimed to have carried out the attacks, but several past Moscow suicide bombings have been the work of Islamic rebels fighting for independence in Chechnya.  This past February, the Chechnyan rebel leader threatened the Russian Capital ominously: “the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia… the war is coming to their cities”.  Moscow’s metro is one of the most traveled underground trains in all the world.  It carries nearly 5 and a half million people every single day.  The heinousness of such an attack on the start of a work week, as people are traveling to work, rightfully baffled many of the witnesses.  One such said “I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body… People were yelling like hell.  There was a lot of smoke and within about two minutes everything was covered in smoke.”  This is the deadliest terrorist attack on Russia since 2004, when a suicide bomb again hit the Metro leaving 39 people dead.  The EU and United States have already called the bombings “heinous” and “outrageous”, and have vowed to stand with Russia against fundamentalism.

-D