Moscow police question survivors

Passengers have been laying flowers close to the blast site

Russian investigators are questioning the survivors of a bomb blast on an underground train in Moscow, which killed at least 39 people.

Police hope that some of the witnesses may provide new information about Friday's explosion.

More than 100 people are still being treated. The condition of at least 20 of them is said to be serious.

The police are also scouring the Moscow's morgues, fingerprinting and photographing the dead.

The rail line has now re-opened and passengers have been laying flowers at the platform closest to bomb site.

The Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said the number of people killed in the explosion looks set to rise.

"Unfortunately the number of victims of the terrorist attack may still rise, since 14 people in city hospitals were critically injured in the attack and a further 24 were seriously hurt," Mr Luzhkov told reporters.

He has declared Monday a day of mourning when the first burials are due to take place.

Closed-circuit television

The BBC's Angus Roxburgh in Moscow says there is still some uncertainty about how the blast in the second carriage of a rush-hour train happened.

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Moscow Deputy Prosecutor Vladimir Yudin said the blast "was likely to have been caused by a suicide bomber", while Moscow deputy Mayor Valery Shantsev said the bomb was packed with nearly five kg (11lbs) of explosives.

Our correspondent says closed-circuit television pictures show two women who may have been involved.

But, he says, police have also issued a photo-fit picture of a male suspect and some officials have cast doubt on the suicide theory.

They say the bomb's debris did not contain the usual shrapnel traces left by a suicide bomb, and that a device may have been left in a bag on the train.

Chechens accused

Moscow has been hit by a series of bombings in recent years - almost all of them blamed on Chechen rebels.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Chechen separatists of being behind the latest attack.

He said it had been aimed at derailing next month's presidential elections, but he vowed Russia would not be cowed.

"Russia doesn't conduct negotiations with terrorists - it destroys them," he said.

"We know for sure that [rebel leader Aslan] Maskhadov and his bandits are linked to this terror."

But Mr Maskhadov's foreign envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, denied the separatists were involved.

Bodies on tracks

There was pandemonium as passengers fled the scene after the blast which ripped through the carriage of the train which had just left Avtozavodskaya Station at about 0840 (0540 GMT) on Friday.

MOSCOW'S DEADLIEST ATTACKS Dec 2003 - female suicide bomber kills five near Red Square July 2003 - aborted suicide attack kills bomb disposal expert July 2003 - suicide bombers kill 14 at Moscow rock concert Oct 2002 - suicide attackers seize Moscow theatre, 130 hostages die in rescue Aug 2000 - bomb in underpass kills 11 Sept 1999 - two blasts in blocks of flats kill more than 200

Windows shattered and the carriage was turned into a hulk of twisted metal, with bodies still in their seats. Corpses also lay on the tracks.

Around 120 people were reported to have injured - many of them suffering from broken bones, smoke inhalation and burns.

Security was reinforced across the network after the attack, which spread fear throughout Moscow.

"Once more [the authorities] have not ensured security," said one Russian outside the station as he looked for his wife.

"I feel grief for our country that cannot defend its citizens," said another.