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Suspects detained in Belarusian metro bombing

Other News Materials 12 April 2011 15:35 (UTC +04:00)

Belarusian authorities detained several suspects Tuesday in connection with the deadly bombing attack on a metro station in the capital Minsk, DPA reported.

Police said they were looking for four men believed to be behind the Monday evening bombing of the central Oktiabrskaya station, which killed 12 people and injured 204.

"Several people" had already been detained as possible suspects, prosecutor general Andrei Shved told reporters during a tour of the bomb scene, the Belapan news agency reported. He did not give details.

Russian experts were picking through debris along with their Belarusian colleagues. Some were using metal detectors.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday offered his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Lukashenko, assistance in determining the type of bomb used in the attack.

There were conflicting reports about the materials used in the bomb, with some Belarusian officials suggesting it may have contained the plastic explosive trotyl and others saying it was made from gunpowder.

The bomb was reportedly packed with metal bearings, nails and pieces of steel reinforcing rod. It detonated when more than 300 people were in the metro station, officials said.

Border police were paying special attention to people attempting to leave the country and enter the European Union, Belapan reported.

Drawings of two people suspected of involvement in the bombing were in the hands of police, according to news reports.

Vice Prosecutor Andrei Shved in a television statement called on Minsk residents to be on the lookout for the suspects and to provide police all photographs and images taken in Oktiabrskaya station before the attack.

Of the 126 people still being treated in hospital, 22 were in a serious condition, Health Minister Vasiliy Zharko. Three were Russian nationals, according to reports.

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