MOSCOW — A suicide bomber carrying a suitcase walked into Moscow's busiest airport and set off a huge explosion Monday, killing 35 people and wounding 180.
The international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport was engulfed by smoke and splattered with body parts after the mid-afternoon terror attack sprayed shrapnel, screws and ball bearings at passengers and workers. Hundreds of people were in the loosely guarded area at the time.
President Dmitry Medvedev immediately ordered authorities to beef up security at Moscow's two other commercial airports and other key transport facilities. He also canceled plans to fly out Tuesday to Davos, Switzerland, where he was going to promote Russia as a safe, profitable investment haven to world business leaders.
"Attempts were being made to identify" the suspected male suicide bomber, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, adding that the attacker appeared to have been wearing the explosives in a belt. The bomb was packed with metal objects to cause maximum damage, according to law enforcement authorities.
Two unconfirmed media reports out of Russia suggested that security services were tipped off to a terrorist attack on a Moscow airport in advance of Monday's bombing and had suspects in their sights.
The U.K.'s Telegraph quoted a source from Russian-language site Lifenews.ru as saying authorities knew of a planned attack a week ago.
"A tip-off with a warning that something was being prepared appeared one week before the explosion," the Lifenews.ru source said according to the Telegraph. "Even the place, by the customs, was named."
A law enforcement source told RIA Novosti news service that the security services were seeking three suspects who were able to gain access to the airport, witness the explosion, then leave.
The latest attack on the Russian capital also called into question Russia's ability to safely host major international sports events like the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 World Cup. It was the second time in seven years that terrorists had hit the Domodedovo Airport: In 2004, suicide bombers penetrated the lax security there, killing 90 people as they blew up two planes.
Large-scale battles in Chechnya ended years ago, following two devastating wars between Russia and the republic's separatists, but Islamic militants have continued to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks. Most of the attacks have been in Chechnya and other predominantly Muslim provinces in the southern Caucasus region, but some have targeted Moscow, including its subways, buses and trains.
In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the "outrageous act of terrorism" and offered any assistance Russia might want. Those comments were echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who spoke with Medvedev and assured him of his complete support.
The Emergencies Ministry said 35 people were killed, 86 hospitalized with injuries and 94 were given medical treatment. Two Britons were among the dead, Markin said.
The Russkaya aya Sluzhba Novostei radio station cited a traveler, identified as Viktor, as saying he heard a loud bang while he was waiting for a car outside the terminal.
"There was an explosion, a bang. Then I saw a policeman covered in fragments of flesh and all bloody. He was shouting 'I've survived! I've survived!'" he told the radio station.
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