“Panic” The first explosion tore through the second carriage of a train at 0756 (0356GMT), as it
stood at central Lubyanka station waiting for morning rush hour commuters to board.
The station, on both the busy Sokolnicheskaya and Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya
lines, lies beneath the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
“I was moving up on the escalator when I heard a loud bang, a blast. A door near the
passageway arched, was ripped out and a cloud of dust came down on the escalator”, an
eyewitness named Alexei told Rossiya 24 TV channel.
“People started running, panicking, falling on each other”, he said.
The second blast at Park Kultury, which is six stops away from Lubyanka on the
Sokolnicheskaya line, came at 0838 (0438 GMT). It struck at the back of the train as people
were getting on board.
“I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there
was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body”, one passenger told the
RIA news agency.
“People were yelling like hell”, he said. “There was a lot of smoke and within about two
minutes everything was covered in smoke”.
The security services said the bomb that went off at Lubyanka station had an equivalent
force of up to 4kg of TNT, while the bomb at Park Kultury was equivalent to 1.5-2kg of TNT.
The devices are believed to have been made with the powerful explosive, hexogen, which
is more commonly known as RDX - were filled with chipped iron rods and screws for shrapnel.
“The whole city is a mess, people are calling each other, the operators can't cope with
such a huge number of calls at a time”, said Olga, a BBC News website reader in Moscow.
“Those who witnessed the tragedy can't get over the shock”.
Moscow's Metro is one of the most-used underground railways in the world, carrying
about 5.5 million passengers a day.
The system was partially disrupted following the attacks, but damage to the stations
was minimal and both had reportedly reopened by the evening rush hour.
President Medvedev asked officials to increase security on the public transport system
nationwide.
“What was being done needs to be substantially strengthened”, he said. “Look at this
problem on the scale of the state, not only as it applies to a particular type of transport and
a particular city”.