Church service for victims of Moscow metro blasts, vox pops

(30 Mar 2010) 1. Wide of exterior Church of Christ the Saviour 2. Priests and officials filing in to church 3. Mid of Archbishop Arseny of the Moscow diocese 4. Various of service 5. Various of people lighting candles in memory of victims of metro suicide bombings 6. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Kristina Delek, aunt of victim of Monday''s bombings of Moscow underground: "These aren''t people who have done this. Life is so short as it is, surely we don''t need to make it any shorter. My niece, who was 38, was killed. It''s such a great shame. I sympathise with everyone who lost relatives and loved ones, children. May God prevent anyone else going through the same experience. I hope that no more terrorist attacks will happen and that our government and police force do something, anything, to put a stop to these terrorist attacks." 7. Wide of cross 8. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) vox pop, Tatyana Sukhinina, Moscow resident attending memorial service: "I have come to pray for the innocent people who died. It is just terrible. Completely innocent people suffered, and so many young people too." 9. Mid of candle STORYLINE: A special service was held in Moscow''s Church of Christ the Saviour on Tuesday in memory of the victims of Monday''s two bombings on the city''s metro system. Kristina Delek, whose niece was killed in one of the attacks, attended the service. "It''s such a great shame. I sympathise with everyone who lost relatives and loved ones, children. May God prevent anyone else going through the same experience," she said. A day of national mourning was being observed in Russia, with flags at half mast across the capital. Meanwhile the death toll was raised to 39 on Tuesday morning, after a woman died in hospital from wounds sustained in one of the bombings, officials said. Five people remain in a critical condition out of the 71 people taken to hospital after the blasts, a city health department official told the Rossiya-24 state news channel. Only eight victims had been formally identified, he said. The attacks have been blamed on rebels from the North Caucasus region. The preliminary investigation found that female suicide bombers detonated belts of explosives during the Monday morning rush-hour at two central Moscow subway stations. It was the first militant activity in the Russian capital for years. Heightened transportation security was in effect across the capital and in cities across Russia. Police with machine guns and sniffer dogs patrolled underground station entrances. Monday''s first explosion took place just before 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow, beneath the headquarters of the Federal Security Service or FSB, the KGB''s main successor agency. The FSB is a symbol of power under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who headed the agency before his election as president in 2000. About 45 minutes later, a second blast hit the Park Kultury station on the same underground line, which is near the famous Gorky Park. In both cases, the bombs were detonated as the trains pulled into the stations and the doors were opening. Debate raged in the Russian media as to the exact motive for the attacks. Newspapers speculated that the blasts were retaliation for the recent killing of militant leaders in the North Caucasus by Russian police. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...