Blast Rocks Moscow Subway Station

31 August 2004 -- Russian officials say 10 people were killed and some 50 others were injured by an explosion near a Moscow subway station.
The cause of the explosion near the Rizhskaya metro station tonight was not immediately clear. An Interior Ministry official said an explosive substance detonated under a car parked outside the station, but other security officials have suggested a suicide bomber may have been responsible for the blast.

An Islamist group -- the Islambouli Brigades -- claimed responsibility for the bombing on a website, saying it was in support of Muslims in Chechnya. The group had earlier claimed responsibility for the near-simultaneous explosions last week on two Russian passenger planes that resulted in the death of 90 people.

It was impossible to confirm the claim.

(Reuters/AFP/AP/ITAR-TASS)