Seven dead, at least 28 injured in Moscow blast

By Patrick Lannin

MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A blast ripped through a busy rush-hour underpass

in Moscow on Tuesday, killing seven people and injuring at least 28 just a

short distance from the Kremlin, a Moscow city official said.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov described the explosion as a ``terrorist act''

and did not rule out a link to Russia's rebel Chechnya region, Interfax

news agency said.

Dozens of people, many with shredded and bloody clothing, stood about in

shock around one of the entrances of the underpass, which crosses under the

capital's main thoroughfare, Tverskaya Street.

One woman was carried to an ambulance, her flesh severely charred and blood

gushing from her nose. Another woman lay on the pavement, screaming in pain

as paramedics bandaged her legs.

``There are seven dead. Eight people have been seriously injured and 20

slightly injured,'' city official Alex Musikansky told Reuters.

A second bomb was later found and defused near the site of the explosion,

Interfax news agency reported.

Natalya Zulumatova, the ends of her hair singed and her ankles stained with

blood, said she was inside one of the small kiosks which line the inside of

the passage when the blast hit just after 6 p.m. (1400 GMT)

``We were inside the stand. We heard a bang and the lights went out. I was

hit by the blast wave,'' she said. ``There was smoke all over the place. We

all managed to get out in the smoke. I saw many injured people.''

Yevgeny Karamyan, his face covered with ash and dust, said he was walking

past the entrance when the explosion occurred.

``I heard a roar. In the first second I could not understand what had

happened,'' he said. ``I saw injured people.''

NTV commercial television showed people, their faces covered in blood and

clothes badly torn, staggering out of the underground passage and

collapsing on the pavement.

Dozens of police and ambulances were arriving at the scene and Tverskaya

Street had been closed off.

Half an hour after the blast, smoke was still pouring from the underground

passage, jammed with shops selling everything from cosmetics to compact

discs and leather goods. The entrance to the passage was completed blackened.

A young girl sat listlessly next to a pool of blood on an adjacent

sidewalk. Her hands were covered in black.

Clusters of people wandered dazed through the square, some looking for

relatives.

``I don't know what happened,'' wailed one of two women, looking grimly

across the square. ``I was supposed to meet my mother here.''

Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo has informed President Vladimir Putin

of the explosion, Interfax said.

Police have stepped up security across Russia, especially in the country's

North Caucasus region, fearful of renewed attacks by Chechen rebels.

Moscow launched its campaign in the breakaway region of Chechnya in

September last year after blaming a series of bomb attacks in the capital

and other Russian cities on the rebels.

The first bomb blast hit a Moscow shopping centre.