Relatives of victims of the subway blasts cry outside a morgue in Moscow where they arrived to identify a body

Moscow paused to mourn its dead Tuesday, a day after suicide bombers struck a pair of subway stations in a deadly rush-hour attack.

Flags across the city were lowered to half staff as hundreds of thousands of commuters returned to the transit system where the bombings had claimed dozens of casualties. Authorities said the attacks have killed at least 39 people — an increase of one since Monday — and wounded more than 60 others.

Television stations canceled entertainment programs for the day, while some also pulled commercials.

After being closed most of the day, both stations reopened around 5 p.m. Monday, said Veronica Molskaya, a spokeswoman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry. A heavy security presense was apparent throughout the subway network as police officers were visible on train platforms.

Russian investigators think Chechen rebels may have been behind the deadly strike.

“Our preliminary assessment is that this act of terror was committed by a terrorist group from the North Caucasus region,” said Alexander Bortnikov of the Federal Security Service, in reference to the investigation at one of the blast sites.

Although nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, Bortnikov’s statement is a strong implication that Chechen rebels fighting for independence were behind the strike.

The Russia-Chechnya conflict dates back nearly 20 years, with Chechens having laid claim to land in the Caucasus Mountains region. Thousands have been killed and 500,000 Chechen people have been displaced from the fighting. The area is located in the North Caucasus region of Russia between the Black and Caspian seas.

Moscow fears ‘war unleashed on its streets’

Monday’s blasts tore through the Lubyanka and Park Kultury stations in central Moscow — the female bombers detonating their explosives about 40 minutes apart, starting just before 8 a.m. (0400 GMT).

In St. Petersburg — about 650 km (400 miles) northwest of the Russian capital — three metro stations were shut as the result of a bomb scare after the Moscow blasts.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the “terrorists” responsible for the Moscow subway attacks “will be destroyed.”

“I am sure that law enforcement agencies will do everything to find and punish the criminals,” said Putin, who called for helping the families of the victims and bolstering transportation safety.

Millions of commuters use the Moscow metro system each day. An estimated 500,000 people were riding trains throughout the capital at the time of the attacks. It was unclear when the system would return to normal service and the incident generated fear among commuters.

The attacks reverberated across the globe.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the “outrageous acts” and passed along his condolences.

“The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life,” Obama said.

The federal Transportation Security Administration said there is “no specific or credible information indicating an imminent or current threat to U.S. transportation systems,” even though some local authorities have decided to beef up security measures in some cities.

Why no subway is safe from terror attacks

Link to article: Moscow mourns subway suicide bomb victims

In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled the legal action and apologized for the strong-arm tactics agents used.

Travel writer and photographer Steven Frischling, who was served with a subpoena by two TSA agents on Tuesday, told Threat Level that he received a phone call Thursday evening from John Drennan, deputy chief counsel for enforcement at TSA, telling him the administration was withdrawing its subpoena.

TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger's home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling's laptop Wednesday.

Frischling was told the TSA would no longer be pursuing the investigation into how he received a security directive that he published on his personal blog, Flying with Fish, on Dec. 27.

The administration told the Associated Press that its investigation was “nearing a successful conclusion and the subpoenas are no longer in effect.”

Frischling, who writes another blog for KLM Dutch Royal Airlines, says Drennan apologized to him when he learned that the two TSA agents who visited him had threatened to get him fired from his KLM contract if he didn’t provide them with information about an anonymous source who sent him the security directive.

“He was a bit taken aback when I was telling him about the heavy tactics that they were going to use to sever my contract with KLM,” Frischling says.

Drennan also promised to make sure the administration resolved issues that Frischling has been having with his laptop ever since the agents seized it to image the hard drive.

Frischling says the laptop was returned to him with “tons and tons of bad sectors” and a corrupt operating system. The audio on his computer has also stopped working, and a red light glows from the audio jack.

“I can essentially use the computer, but I don’t know for how long,” he says. “Whoever did this thing, did it fast and dirty and not to my benefit.”

A second blogger who was also served a subpoena on Tuesday, Christopher Elliott, was also told his subpoena was being withdrawn. Elliott had refused to cooperate with the agent who served him the subpoena and had indicated to the TSA that he would be challenging the subpoena in federal court next week.

The TSA issued its security directive after a would-be terrorist tried to ignite a bomb on an airplane on Dec. 25. The directive, sent to airports and airlines around the world, temporarily revised screening procedures and put new restrictions on passengers in the wake of the attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.

The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites.

Frischling said the two agents who visited him arrived around 7 p.m. Tuesday, were armed and threatened him with a criminal search warrant if he didn’t provide the name of his source. They also indicated they could get him designated a security risk, which would make it difficult for him to travel and do his job.

“They came to the door and immediately were asking, ‘Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?’ and ‘I don’t think you know how much trouble you’re in.’ It was very much a hardball tactic,” he told Threat Level.

The agents searched through Frischling’s BlackBerry and iPhone and questioned him about a number of phone numbers and messages in the devices.

The agents then tried to image his hard drive, but were unable to do so.

Frischling said the keyboard on his laptop was no longer working after the agents tried to copy his files. The agents left, but returned Wednesday morning and, with Frischling’s consent, seized his laptop, which they returned that afternoon after copying his hard drive. Frischling has experienced a number of problems with the computer since then.

Source: Wired.com

Link to article: TSA Threatens Blogger Who Posted New Screening Directive