Back-to-back terrorist bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd killed at least 32 people over the weekend and left nearly 70 more wounded, many seriously, in the space of less than 24 hours. The shocking attacks have led to a massive security crackdown throughout the country

The first of the two suicide bomb attacks took place on Sunday at Volgograd’s main train station, killing at least 17 people and wounding over 40 more. The attack was timed for the peak travel period on the eve of the New Year, Russia’s most important holiday. Authorities reported that the bomb was detonated in a crowd in front of the station’s metal detectors. The Moscow Times identified a suspect in the suicide bombing as Pavel Pechyonkin, a paramedic with an ambulance service who converted to Islam and left home to join Dagestani Islamist militants.

Monday’s bomb ripped through a packed trolley-bus during morning rush hour, throwing bodies, body parts and clothing onto the city street. Fifteen were reported killed in this second bombing, with nearly another 30 injured.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee, told the media that the two bombs appeared nearly identical, suggesting a common source for the attacks. Referring to the trolley-bus bomb, he said: “Like the bomb at the railway station, it was packed with shrapnel. Since the strike elements are identical in the two bombs, it confirms the theory that the two attacks are linked. It is possible they were prepared in the same place.”

While no group has claimed responsibility for the two bombings, the suicide bomber identified in the train station attack had declared his allegiance to the Caucasus Emirate, an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group active in Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia and elsewhere in the region. The organization has claimed responsibility for previous mass terror attacks, including the March 2010 Moscow metro bombings that killed at least 40 people and the February 2011 suicide bombing at Moscow’s international airport that left another 37 dead.

Volgograd was itself the scene of one of the most recent previous terrorist attacks last October, in which a woman from Dagestan blew herself up on a bus, killing seven people.

Dokka Umarov, the self-declared emir of the Caucasus Emirate, issued a video in July calling upon his followers to “do their utmost” to derail the Sochi Olympics with a new round of attacks.

The stated aim of the organization is to create a separate Muslim state across the North Caucasus. The region was thrown into turmoil with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the restoration of capitalism in 1991. Since then, it has seen two wars in Chechnya (1994-1996 and 1999-2006), which claimed the lives of some 80,000 people, most of them civilians.

Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, the site of the massive battle that turned the tide against Nazi Germany in World War II 70 years ago, was placed on virtual lockdown in the wake of the bombings, as security measures were implemented throughout the country in advance of New Year’s celebrations. In Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second city, a planned fireworks display was cancelled.

The bombings triggered calls for a law-and-order crackdown from sections of the Russian media, as well as anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant agitation. Police dispersed a demonstration organized by Russian nationalists in Volgograd in the wake of Monday’s attacks, telling protesters that they were only creating another target for terrorist attacks.

Pravda.ru quoted a former colonel in the Russian Federal Security Bureau as saying, “We need to do what Americans do. We have to keep tabs on each and every person. This technology that Snowden exposed—prevention and control—has a real effect.”

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