Berita Terrorist Massacre at Moscow Airport

[hendladi]

KOMPAS.com - Two Britons are among 35 people believed to have been killed along with 170 injured in an explosion caused by a dual suicide attack at Moscow's main commercial airport.

The British Foreign Office was last night frantically trying to confirm the news on the British deaths, as reported by Russian agency Interfax, who earlier said the explosion was caused by a bomb with 7kg of TNT and police searching for three male suspects.

'We are investigating the situation, have people on the ground there,' a spokesman told the Daily Mail online. 'We are speaking to our Russian colleagues in an attempt to confirm the reports.'

Russia's top investigative agency said the blast happened at 4.30pm local time in the arrivals hall of Domodedovo Airport, the busiest of capital's three airports, which is 26 miles outside Moscow.

No one immediately claimed responsibility and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: 'From the preliminary information we have, it was a terror attack.'

On Twitter he added: 'Security will be strengthened at large transport hubs.

'We mourn the victims of the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport. The organizers will be tracked down and punished.'

RIA Novosti reported that two suicide bombers blew themselves up as people emerged from the international arrivals zone.

Interfax were told by a source: 'According to early reports, two foreigners were injured as a result of the explosion, both have been hospitalised.'

The same agency said that fragments of a suspected suicide bomber were found. He was an 'Arab-looking man, aged 30-35'. His head was found blown off his shoulders.

David Cameron offered Britain's 'complete support' in dealing with the terror attack in a telephone call with Mr Medvedev, Downing Street said.

'The Prime Minister utterly condemned today's explosion at Domodedovo airport. He offered his condolences and sympathies to all those who had been affected by what he described as an appalling attack.' a Number 10 spokeswoman said.

'The Prime Minister assured President Medvedev of his complete support and said that the Russian authorities could count on Britain for any assistance they needed.

The Prime Minister made clear that the people of Britain stood with the people of Russia in the face of these events and said that 'we should never allow the terrorists to win'.'

In a statement, Foreign Secretary William Hague said: 'I am deeply shocked and saddened at today's explosion at Moscow's Domodedovo airport with the loss of many lives.

'On behalf of the UK, I send condolences to all those who have lost relatives or been injured.

'British officials are in urgent contact with the Russian authorities to establish the facts and to provide consular support to any British nationals who may have been affected.'

A statement from the Foreign Office read: 'The airport is currently closed and you should not travel there. We will provide further updates as soon as we are able to.'

A total of almost 240,000 British nationals entered Russia in 2009.

The Foreign Office advice warns of a high threat from terrorism in Russia, with the possibility of indiscriminate attacks.

'We are also making contact with the British airlines using Domodedovo,' a Foreign Office spokesman added.

'For those who are worried about friends or relatives who may be caught up in the explosion, please call the Foreign Office on 0207 0081500.'

BMI said it operates two flight daily into the airport.

A spokeswoman said flight BD891 landed at 4.30pm local time with 97 passengers on board.

She said all the passengers had disembarked before the incident happened.

'All the BMI crew are accounted for,' she said.

'We are waiting for information about whether the passengers were caught up in the incident from the authorities in Moscow.'

A British Airways operates three flights daily into the airport and a spokeswoman said: 'We are speaking to our teams at the airport to establish further information.'

Flight BA872 landed at 3.46pm local time with 165 passengers on board. The passengers disembarked and the flight turned around, leaving Moscow at 4.49pm.

In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the 'outrageous act of terrorism'. Airport security confirmed that shrapnel, screws and metal balls were found at the blast site.

Witness Mark Green, who had just arrived on a BA flight, told BBC News: 'As we were picking up the bags to put them into the back of the car, there was an almighty explosion. It reverberated through our bodies.'

He said the snow falling from the terminal was "like an avalanche coming down". He continued: 'There was a pause of 30 seconds before people started running out of the terminal, some of whom were injured, some of whom were covered in blood or some kind of black product.

'People were obviously in a state of shock and panic.

'People were wandering around not quite sure what was going on. Security services were running around trying to keep people to one side, keep people calm, trying to move the injured people to one side.'

Asked if all the people on his flight would have made it out of the terminal, he said: 'I would be extremely surprised if there was nobody on that flight that was affected by the blast.'

Mr Green, who travels to Moscow once a month, said it was 'one of the busiest times' he had seen at the airport, with 'thousands' inside. Business traveller Jeremy Spencer was in the immigration hall when the explosion went off.

He told BBC News there was a 'loud bang and then the ceiling and the floor shook where we were standing. Dust started to appear from the ceiling.

'People immediately grabbed their telephones to see what had happened.

'I didn't realise it was quite so major. It was only getting out of the airport we found out what had happened.'

BA confirmed that BA874 which left London en route to Moscow at 12.30pm had turned back towards the UK. Bodies, luggage and debris lays strewn on the floor of the smoke-filled terminal.

One shell-shocked man can be seen briefly, standing behind his luggage trolley among the carnage, looking from side to side. As the camera moves through what appears to be the arrivals area, bodies are visible on the floor massed near a pillar.

Smoke wafted out of the baggage claim area and people were seen running out of the emergency exits at the airport, local media reported. The Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei radio station cited a traveller, identified as Viktor, as saying he heard the bang outside the airport, where he was waiting for a car.

'There was an explosion, a bang,' said Viktor. 'Then I saw a policeman covered in fragments of flesh and all bloody. He was shouting 'I've survived! I've survived!''

Russia's rouble-dominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two per cent following the blast. Domodedovo, located in the Domodedovsky District, 42 kilometres (26 miles) south-southeast of the centre of Moscow, is generally regarded as Moscow's most up-to-date airport, but its security procedures have been called into question.

It is the largest airport in Russia in terms of passenger and cargo traffic (22.25 million passengers used the airport in 2010, which is a 19.2 per cent increase on 2009), and is one of the three major Moscow airports along with Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.

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 all 90 people aboard the two flights.

Moscow suffered its worst attack in six years in March 2010 when two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region set off explosives in the metro, killing 39 people and wounding 60 others. The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, and rebels have repeatedly vowed they will take their battle to the Russian heartland.