Russia (MNN) — The pace of Moscow's Domodedovo airport was
disrupted by a deadly explosion Monday.
Joel Griffith with the Slavic Gospel Association says, "The
authorities there are saying that they believe a suicide bomber was
responsible. The explosion took place at the international arrivals hall, and
apparently it was the baggage claim area."
At press time, the dead were at 35 and there were at least
180 wounded. "Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has already been on the air
talking about how this was a terrorist attack. There have been orders to beef up security at the two other commercial
airports and other transport facilities."
Already, authorities are looking at who's behind the
attack. Monday afternoon Griffith
said, "We're waiting to see if any protest groups are claiming responsibility
or some of these militant groups, to see if they're going to be claiming
responsibility." Griffith indicated the
bombing would likely connected to Russia's volatile north Caucasus region.
Because of the location of the attack–the international
arrivals hall, at the baggage claim–we
asked Griffith if this might give pause specifically for their short-term
missions groups. While their teams are
already out of the region, it's early yet in the investigation. But this has the potential to disrupt
Gospel outreach. "We're praying not only
for the people of Moscow and Russia, but just also for believers from overseas
who are traveling and visiting there,
also evangelical churches, pastors and missionaries and others that are
traveling. It illustrates again how dangerous things can be."
A terrorist attack like this is only partly dependent on the
actual damage and death. Its real
success comes in civilian casualties, where the militants steal peace of mind
and replace it with worry. To that end,
Griffith urges prayer. "[We're] praying
for the people of Moscow. This is certainly a rattle to them, so we're praying for
peace and stability."
