Both stations are on the same subway "redline" that runs through central Moscow. The line was shut down after the attacks.

Rescuers get information near a subway station in Moscow, March 29, 2010. Two explosions hit two subway stations in Moscow has killed 37 people and wounded 25 others, according to Russian Emergency Situations Ministry. [Lu Jinbo/Xinhua]

 

The Lubyanka and the Cultural Park stations were reopened and the redline resumed operations by Monday evening.

The death toll may rise as eight of those injured were in critical condition. Hotlines have been set up for families of the victims.

Three foreigners were injured in the metro attacks, two from Malaysia and one from the Philippines, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Moscow municipal government has dispatched some 104 buses commuting citizens affected by the explosions.

Andrei Legoshin, deputy director of the operations department of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, told Xinhua at the Lubyanka station that a rescue team of over 300 persons was working at the scenes.

"The police have tightened control in the Moscow subway, train stations and other crowded areas," Viktor Biryukov, head of the chief administration of internal affairs said.

Moscow city public prosecutor Yuri Semin said preliminary investigations showed the explosive devices were tied to suicide bombers and were equivalent to 2-3 kg of TNT each in the twin blasts.

Head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said the bombers were linked to groups in North Caucasus.

"According to preliminary information, these terrorist acts were committed by terrorist groups related to the North Caucasus Region. We'll consider it as the basic version because the bodies of two female suicide bombers who were residing in the North Caucasus have been found (at the explosion sites)," the FSB chief said.

The first blast occurred in the busy central Lubyanka station, just beneath the FSB headquarter and 500 meters from the Kremlin.

A police source earlier told the RIA Novosti news agency that an inspection of the scene indicated that the bomb was detonated at a height of one to two meters, which would "apparently be attached to the waist of a female suicide bomber."

Close circuit TV showed two other women accompanied the suicide bombers onto the metro, reported Russia Today TV station.

Oleg Yelnikov, spokesman of the Russian Interior Ministry, said on TV Monday that 700 interior troops were patrolling the streets and a massive police operation has been launched in Moscow.