MOSCOW — A suicide bomber slipped into a crowd waiting for international passengers arriving at Moscow's newest and busiest airport, detonating a huge blast that killed 35 people and exposed another weak spot in security for global air travelers.The attack at Domodedovo international airport illustrated how difficult it is to safeguard public areas at terminals, even as the United States and other governments engaged in a cat-and-mouse battle with would-be bombers have tightened screenings of passengers and their luggage.An explosion rocked Moscow's busiest airport today,killing injuring scores of people, according to Russian officials.The explosion at Domodedovo airport,in the southeast of the Russian capital,occurred on Monday afternoon inside the airport's international arrivals hall near the baggage area.But Monday's attack, which brought devastation to the bustling international terminal of the country's busiest airport, achieved a new level of visibility. The bomber attacked at the airport's most vulnerable point, the unsecured reception area outside customs.
Domodedovo, which underwent a big renovation and expansion in the past decade, is about 25 miles southeast of central Moscow and is the largest of three airports that serve the capital.It handles 600 flights a day from all points of the globe, including major U.S. airports. It is a more potent symbol than the Moscow subway system, bombed in March in an attack that killed 40, or the Moscow-St. Petersburg rail line, disrupted by a bombing 14 months ago that killed 27.
Moscow police have been put on alert over possible terror attacks in the capital. Police are also on alert at Vnukovo airport and Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow, and in the metro system.International flights are being redirected to other Moscow area airports. Some 80 emergency teams are already on the spot. The first groups of injured passengers have already been taken to hospital.
Deadly Blast At Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport
Medvedev is holding an urgent meeting with the Prosecutor General, the Investigative Committee Chief and the Transportation Minister.When they finally made it into the airport, he said, he and the other passengers were led past sheets of blue plastic, which hid signs of the carnage. Meanwhile, transportation officials had ordered “100 percent control of passengers and visitors and their baggage, including their hand baggage,” resulting in long, snaking lines and shoving matches at the airport’s entrances.
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