Moscow, Russia, Mar 29, 2010 / 21:09 pm
The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and the Latin Catholic Archbishop of Moscow have reacted to the Moscow Metro bombings with bewilderment and pain. Catholic Mass attendees missed the attacks by “a matter of minutes.”
Several dozen people were killed and more than 100 injured in the attacks, reportedly carried out by two female suicide bombers. Chechen rebels are suspected.
The first attack struck a station near the headquarters of the F.S.B., the security agency which succeeded the Soviet-era K.G.B. According to the New York Times, officials suspect that attack was intended as a message to the security services which helped lead the crackdown on Islamic extremism in Chechnya and other parts of the Caucasus region.
Moscow’s mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov said the attacks came when there would be “the maximum number of victims.”