Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. sent a telegram of condolence on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to Russian President Dimitry Anatolevich Medvedev in the wake of the January 24 bomb attack at Domodedovo airport in Moscow. The Pope lamented the suffereing, while offering a "firm condemnation of this serious act of violence" and expressing his desire "to transmit his sentiments of spiritual closeness to the relatives of the victims."
At least 34 people died in the attack, which left scores injured. At least one Briton was among the dead. The head of the supposed suicide bomber responsible for the attack was subsequently found. Characteristic of other jihadist suicide bombings in places like Iraq and Israel, the suicide bomber detonated 2 kilos of explosives that released deadly metal fragments that disintegrated the perpetrator and shredded nearby passengers in the busy Moscow air terminal.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised unspecified 'retribution' for the attack, which is widely blamed in the Russian press on Islamist terrorists. Following the deadly terrorist attack in the city of Beslan in 2004, when Islamist terrorist seized a school and held hostages, scores of children died as a result. Three hundred and eight persons died in the affray started by Ingush and Chechen separatists. As president, Putin successfully got a change in how regional governors are appointed and then stepped up security nationwide. In this latest attack, current president Medvedev has chastized airport officials and is calling for further security enforcement. Moscow remains on high alert, even while the subsequent bombings in series that were feared did not, after all, materialize.
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