Eleven dead after Belarus subway bombing

April 12, 2011

Eleven people are reported dead and more than a hundred injured after a bomb went off in a station in Minsk, Belarus on Monday evening.

According to witnesses, the explosion happened just after a train entered the station at about 1755 local time (1555 UTC). The explosion reportedly damaged the station, with a section of the ceiling having collapsed.

One witness said: "People are being treated on the spot, some are being taken away, some&mdash;those who are conscious and in a more or less normal state&mdash;are being helped into ambulances."

A police spokesperson said security forces were placed in a state of "heightened alert" after the incident, and the area around the station was closed. President Alexander Lukashenko said police forces are to "turn the country upside down" to determine who was responsible.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, though police are saying that terrorist activity was responsible. "We must find out who gained by undermining peace and stability in the country, who stands behind this," Lukashenko said. "Who did not like the stability in Belarus?"