UN Security Council Condemns 'Apparent' Terrorist Attack In Minsk

The Kastrychnitskaya (October Square) subway station reopened on April 13, two days after the deadly blast.

The United Nations Security Council has issued a statement condemning what it describes as the "apparent terrorist attack" that hit a subway station in the Belarusian capital, killing 12 people.

Reports quoted a diplomat on the Security Council as saying the word "apparent" was included in the statement for a reason -- apparently to suggest some uncertainty among Security Council members over who may have been behind the attack.

The statement from the 15-member Security Council said it "condemns in the strongest terms the apparent terrorist attack."

The statement added a reminder to all countries that counterterrorism measures must comply with their obligations under international human-rights, refugee, and humanitarian law.

The April 11 bomb blast in central Minsk killed 12 people and wounded more than 200 others.

Belarusian authorities say the suspected bomber and two accomplices have been detained and have confessed to involvement in the blast as well as to two other attacks -- a bombing at an open-air concert in Minsk in 2008 and another blast at a cafe in Vitebsk in 2005, neither of which caused casualties.

Reports from Belarus say the investigation of the Minsk blast has led to new interrogations by authorities of members of the anti-Lukashenka political opposition.

Lukashenka late on April 13 suggested the bombing was the work of dissidents and ordered security forces to question opposition figures without regard to what he called "democracy and cries and wailing of foreign sufferers."

compiled from agency reports