Three jailed for Moscow bombings

Bomb components allegedly came from the Caucasus

A Moscow court has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for bomb attacks on the city's underground railway in February and August 2004.

The attacks killed 50 people and injured more than 300.

Maksim Panaryin, Tambiy Khubiyev and Murat Shavayev were found guilty of committing acts of terrorism.

The first bombing took place between Moscow's Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations. The second blast was outside Rizhskaya station.

Shavayev was formerly a Russian justice ministry official.

Prosecutors charged that Khubiyev and Shavayev brought detonators and explosives to Moscow from the North Caucasus and Khubiyev assembled one of the bombs, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The February bomb - on a crowded metro train - killed 42 people including the bomber. The Rizhskaya blast killed eight.

A female suicide bomber and her accomplice were among those killed outside Rizhskaya. The following day, pro-Chechen militants stormed a school in Beslan, southern Russia - an attack which led to more than 330 deaths.

President Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen separatists for the Moscow metro attacks.

Chechen rebel leaders denied involvement.

The Moscow court found Khubiyev and Panaryin guilty of belonging to a militant group called Karachai jamaat, Itar-Tass reported.

Khubiyev pleaded guilty to all of the charges, Panaryin pleaded guilty to some, while Shavayev denied all of them.

The trial had been closed to the public.