News Blast rocks Minsk subway

[SiberianTiger]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/04/11/belarus.subway.blast/

Blast hits subway station in Belarus

(CNN) -- An explosion struck a subway station in the Belarus capital of Minsk on Monday, Russian state media reported.

A witness told the official RIA Novosti news agency that at least 10 people were injured in the blast, which occurred at the Oktyabrskaya metro station.

Rescue workers in at least 12 emergency vehicles responded to the scene, carrying the wounded away in their arms or on stretchers, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

The blast occurred at 6 p.m., a metro police spokesman told Interfax.

"We can't provide any more details. We are looking into what has happened," Interfax quoted the spokesman as saying.

CNN could not immediately reach officials in Minsk for comment.

Additionally, photo (http: //drugoi.livejournal.com/3532880.html) and video (http: //www.youtube.com/user/abrykos). Not making links, because injured people are pictured, viewer discretion is advised!

One obvious conclusion one can make is that Islam != Terrorism... My condolences to people of Belarus.

 

[SiberianTiger]

The last report is, 7 dead, 70 injured.

 

[Linguofreak]

One obvious conclusion one can make is that Islam != Terrorism... My condolences to people of Belarus.

I don't see how you're making a conclusion one way or the other. The article doesn't say anything about who's responsible that I can see.

 

[Wishbone]

Could be the opposition... I sincerely hope the Belarussian KGB will find the perpetrators.

EDIT: preliminary casualty lists are here (in Russian) - http://lenta.ru/news/2011/04/11/list/

 

[Scruce]

Will the deaths of the innocent ever end...

 

[Wishbone]

Toll now: 11 dead, 126 wounded (EDIT: 22 are in critical state).

Russian president Medvedev expressed condolences and offered help in investigation. Russian health ministry is sending an intensive care team to Minsk.

 

[Urwumpe]

By the news of today, it starts to feel like the Minsk version of the Reichstag fire.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

By the news of today, it starts to feel like the Minsk version of the Reichstag fire.

Hmm... can you tell me more about the Reichstag fire?

 

[SiberianTiger]

Hmm... can you tell me more about the Reichstag fire?

Is Wikipedia not on restricted list for you? [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire"]Reichstag fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Urwumpe: Poor analogy, Lukashenko holds his chair for 17 years already. And by the way, looks like there was no blame readied to be thrown at somebody after the bombing happened. I'd be cautious about government conspiracy theory till more evidence emerges.

 

[Urwumpe]

Urwumpe: Poor analogy, Lukashenko holds his chair for 17 years already. And by the way, looks like there was no blame readied to be thrown at somebody after the bombing happened. I'd be cautious about government conspiracy theory till more evidence emerges.

Maybe not to poor, since the dust didn't have time to settle until the autocrat already called for the secret service (and not the police) to find the enemies. And you can be sure, an autocrat has always enemies and will easily find them.

Even if Lukashenko is ruling for 17 years already... this year the wind of change is blowing strong again and people feel it everywhere. The citizens as much as their rulers. Everywhere, there are tyrants who know deep in their conscience that their rule is not good and they have to fear the wrath of the people they oppressed. And these people don't just give in and wait for their fate. They look for any way to get their enemies away and their population scared again into oppression.

In such a year, there are no random events. Everything happens because it has to happen. Now, in this place, on this planet, in this universe. The Earthquake wasn't random, it happened right where it was supposed to happen, because it had perfect conditions there. The Twitter uprisings happen where the people have all good reasons to be upset.

And even if the bombing was really an act of terror (which even the Reichtag fire could have been, the evidence is rare), the resulting answer of the regime will sure not just concentrate on those who had done it. It will apply the force with a broad brush.

 

[Wishbone]

What wind of change? Lukashenko is the best head of state in the CIS.

EDIT: The opposition are just a bunch of USAID- and EU-nurtured psychopaths.

 

[SiberianTiger]

And even if the bombing was really an act of terror (which even the Reichtag fire could have been, the evidence is rare), the resulting answer of the regime will sure not just concentrate on those who had done it. It will apply the force with a broad brush.

But that just doesn't benefit him. For many years, the waived flag of Belarus propaganda was "Look, what good and quiet state we have. In crazy Russia, all sort of things can happen, and we are living in prosperous stability". What kind of change should have happened so that the autocrat as you say would want to literally blow up one of the mainstay principles of his popularity? Even the latest year's protests in Minsk was not a problem for his police and KGB to handle.

(As a side note: much of that prosperity was thanks to profitable customs policies, and aid from Russian govt, both in forms of big discounts on gas & oil and direct loaning).

 

[Urwumpe]

But that just doesn't benefit him. For many years, the waived flag of Belarus propaganda was "Look, what good and quiet state we have. In crazy Russia, all sort of things can happen, and we are living in prosperous stability". What kind of change should have happened so that the autocrat as you say would want to literally blow up one of the mainstay principles of his popularity? Even the latest year's protests in Minsk was not a problem for his police and KGB to handle.

(As a side note: much of that prosperity was thanks to profitable customs policies, and aid from Russian govt, both in forms of big discounts on gas & oil and direct loaning).

Actually a lot of this also comes from keeping all contradicting news away from the citizens. Which is why such a bomb blast is likely the first contradicting news, that had been too big to hide.

---------- Post added at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 AM ----------

At least one good news from there... also 7 bomb experts from Israel are assisting in the case.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Now, it is a bit too thin.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/13/minsk-belarus-subway-bombing.html?ref=rss

Subway bombing suspects confess: Belarus president
The Associated Press
Posted: Apr 13, 2011 5:39 AM ET

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says two suspects have confessed in the fatal bombing of the subway system in the capital.

In a televised statement on Wednesday, Lukashenko said the suspects have confessed to the Monday bombing in Minsk that killed 12 people and wounded some 200 others.

Lukashenko said, however, that he still does not know who ordered the bombing, and he asked the country's prosecutor general to interrogate opposition activists in connection with the blast "regardless of democracy, and cries and wailing of foreign sufferers."

He said opposition activists might know who "ordered the attack."

Deputy Prosecutor General Andrey Shved said earlier Wednesday that CCTV footage showed one of the two suspects leaving a bag in the Oktyabrskaya subway station in central Minsk and feeling around for something in his jacket pocket shortly before the explosion.

Authorities have said the bomb was radio-controlled. There has been no claim of responsibility for the blast.

The Oktyabrskaya station is within 100 metres of the presidential administration building and the Palace of the Republic, a concert hall often used for government ceremonies.

 

[Urwumpe]

Now, it is a bit too thin.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/04/13/minsk-belarus-subway-bombing.html?ref=rss

Surprised?

The guilty will be found - even if they are not aware that they are guilty.

 

[Wishbone]

Urwumpe, this is called bias.

Source: http://www.interfax.by/news/belarus/90806

The unabomber is said to be 25 years old, his first explosion is said to have been done in Vitebsk in September 2005, then he went to serve in the army, the next one was in Minsk on July 3, 2008. He evaded obligatory fingerprinting; psychologists are describing him as taking pathological pleasure in human suffering.

 

[Urwumpe]

Interesting since Lukashenko blamed the first two bombings on "criminal gangs".

 

[Belisarius]

BBC report on same:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13065747

"We already know who committed this terrorist act and how," he said. "The only thing is we don't yet know why, but that will also be known soon."

He said the suspects had admitted links to two previous bombings - one in Minsk in 2008 and one in the western city of Vitebsk in 2005. About 50 people were injured in those attacks.

"It's monstrous, yet true, that the scumbags who committed this crime were working in normal workers' collectives - one a lathe operator, another an electrician. They interacted with many colleagues, they had close friends.

I know some "revolutionaries" from Belorus, but I'm sure they're not involved in this because they're non-violent, and committed to cyberspace attacks and stunts.

But it seems there is a lot of discontent against the regime.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Wondering, why do they publish composite images of the "suspects", and not real photos? Are their faces not looking that good for publishing anymore, or what? :blink:

 

[Wishbone]

That was the pre-capture photorobot, and I suspect it is easier to ID a full mugshot than an angled low-light low-resolution bunch of pixels from a CCTV.