Hundreds of rescue workers are taking part in the clean-up operation, while other emergency situation officers seal off the area to search for explosives in nearby houses.

Fragments of the nine-storey building were blown up to 100 metres away and the windows of neighbouring buildings were shattered by the explosion.

The scene was too upsetting for some people watching from a nearby building.

President Yeltsin has ordered tight security across the country. Here, a policeman checks the passport of a man at a Moscow railway station.

Muscovites light candles in a Moscow church as they mourn those killed in the recent blasts.

Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the remains of the building. It is not known how many people were at home when the blast reduced the block to fragments.