Minsk, Belarus – An explosion tore through a key subway station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk during evening rush hour Monday, and a top official said there were fatalities.
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An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw heavily wounded people being carried out of the Oktyabrskaya station, including one person with missing legs.
Several witnesses told The Associated Press that the explosion roared out just as passengers were stepping off a train about 6 p.m. (1500 GMT). The Oktyabrskaya station, where Minsk’s two subway lines intersect, was crowded with transferring passengers at the end of the work day.
The station is within 100 meters (yards) of the government’s main building, the Palace of the Republic, as well as the residence of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarusian state news agency said 7 dead, 35 wounded.
One witness, Alexei Kiklevich, said at least part of the station’s ceiling collapsed after the explosion.
Igor Tumash, 52, said he was getting off a train when “there was a large flash, an explosion and heavy smoke. I fell on my knees and crawled … bodies were piled on each other.”
He said he saw a man with a severed leg and rushed to help him.
“But then I saw he was dead,” Tumash said, starting to cry.
Political tension in Belarus has been rising since December, when a massive demonstration against a disputed presidential election sparked a harsh crackdown by police in which more than 700 people were arrested, including seven presidential candidates.
Lukashenko, who was declared the overwhelming winner of the disputed Dec. 19 election, has run Belarus with an iron fist since 1994.
However, Belarus’ beleaguered opposition has been largely peaceful for years, with only a few clashes with police.
In July 2008, a bomb blast at a concert attended by Lukashenko injured about 50 people in Minsk. No arrests in the case were reported.
Does this have anything to do with the story about a young man’s strange, neurotic journey from Milan to Minsk?
As of now, the only one who had any motives – is a Belorussian president Alexander Lukashenko
No mention of Jihadist terrorism yet? Exploding backpack has MO more associated with a lone wolf trying to target as many innocent civilians as possible (subway blast).