2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing

2011 Domodedovo Airport bombing
Domodedovo Airport's passenger terminal (2007)
Location	Domodedovo Airport Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Date	Monday, 24 January 2011 16:32 MSK (UTC+03:00)
Target	Domodedovo Airport
Attack type	Suicide bombing
Weapons	Improvised explosive device
Deaths	37
Non-fatal injuries	173
Perpetrators	Caucasus Emirate Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade

The Domodedovo International Airport bombing was a suicide bombing in the international arrival hall of Moscow's Domodedovo International, in Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, on 24 January 2011.

The bombing killed 37 people and injured 173 others, including 86 who had to be hospitalised. Of the casualties, 31 died at the scene, three later in hospitals, one en route to a hospital, one on 2 February after having been put in a coma, and another on 24 February after being hospitalised in grave condition.

Russia's Federal Investigative Committee later identified the suicide bomber as a 20-year-old from the North Caucasus, and said that the attack was aimed "first and foremost" at foreign citizens.

Domodedovo International is located 42 kilometres (26 mi) southeast of central Moscow and is Russia's largest airport, with over 22 million passengers passing through in 2010. It is heavily used by foreign workers and tourists.

In 2004, two aircraft which had just taken off from Domodedovo were bombed by female Chechen suicide bombers. The incident resulted in an expensive step-up of security at the airport, including full body scanners.

The city of Moscow had seen a number of significant attacks in the years prior to the incident. In 2004, two separate attacks on the Moscow Metro, one by a male suicide bomber on 6 February and another by a female suicide bomber on 31 August; in 2006, 13 people were killed in a market bombing; and in March 2010, at least 40 people were killed in suicide bombings on the Moscow Metro.

The explosion affected the baggage-claim area of the airport's international arrivals hall. Some reports have suggested that the explosion was the work of a suicide bomber, with investigators saying the explosion was caused by an "improvised device packed with shrapnel, pieces of chopped wire" and the equivalent to between two and five kilograms of TNT. Russia's chief investigator has stated the explosion was the work of terrorists. Investigators found a male head and believed it might have been that of the suicide bomber.