Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who built much of his political capital by directing a fierce war against Chechen separatists a decade ago, promised to track down and kill the organizers of what he called a "disgusting" crime.
"The terrorists will be destroyed," he said on national television.
In a televised meeting with President Replica Louis Vuitton Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said the remains of the two bombers pointed to a Caucasus connection. "We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end," Medvedev said.
Dozens of contributors zhjchv0330 to three Web sites affiliated with al-Qaida wrote comments in praise of Monday's attacks. One site opened a special page to "receive congratulations" for the Chechen rebels who "started the dark tunnel attacks in the apostate countries," and all wished for God to accept the two women as martyrs.
"Don't forget Russia's crimes of genocide in the Caucasus and Chechnya," said one writer. "The battle has been shifted to the heart of Moscow," another wrote.
Ignatenko said Islamic militants in the Caucasus often recruit women whose relatives were killed by Russian security services.
Umarov, the Chechen rebel leader, has relied on al-Qaida's financial support and has several al-Qaida emissaries in his entourage, said Alexander Ignatenko, the head of the independent Moscow-based Institute for Religion and Politics, who has closely followed the Islamic insurgency in the Caucasus.
"Al-Qaida has established a presence in the North Caucasus, like they did in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and Europe," Ignatenko told The Associated Press. The militants' links with al-Qaida also are recognized by other experts on terrorism.
At least 38 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in Monday morning's blasts, the first such attacks in Moscow in six years.
At 4 p.m., the two subway stations reopened and dozens boarded waiting trains.
"It's really terrifying," said Vasily Replica Mobile Vlastinin, 16. "It's become dangerous to ride the metro, but I'll keep taking the metro. You have to get to school, to college, to work somehow."
The bombings showed that the beleaguered rebels are still strong enough to inflict harm on an increasingly assertive Russia, and they followed a warning last month from Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov that "the war is coming to their cities."
