Day of mourning
January 26, 2011
Russia held a day of morning on Wednesday for the victims of Monday's deadly bombing at the country's busiest airport in Moscow, as President Dmitry Medvedev shortened a trip to Switzerland to promote investment Russia.
Thirty-five people were killed by a suicide bomber at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, where scores of people were lighting candles and laying down flowers in commemoration. Security remained tight at the airport, with camouflage-clad officers of the OMON anti-terror police patrolling the arrivals terminal.
The Emergencies Ministry said 116 of the injured were still hospitalized, and that one of the dead had not yet been identified.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but authorities suspect militants from the Muslim-majority North Caucasus region, where Moscow is battling a violent Islamist separatist movement.
Turbo trip to Davos
Medvedev was originally scheduled to fly to Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday to deliver the opening speech at the World Economic Forum. After the bombing he decided to shorten his trip.
"I've made a decision to participate in the forum because it is a very important global venue to present our position," he said in an interview with the leading business daily Vedomosti. "We are indeed seeking investments. We want quick recovering growth after the crisis."
But the airport bombing, the second major attack on the Russian capital in a year, cast a shadow on Medvedev's trip to Davos and suggested Moscow is less than capable of preventing terrorist attacks.
Last March dual suicide bombings on the Moscow metro killed 40 people and injured more than 100. The attacks were carried out by women from the North Caucasus.
Author: Andrew Bowen (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Michael Lawton