Police in Belarus carried out spot checks on roads and at stations and airports on Tuesday after a bomb blast tore through a crowded metro station in the capital Minsk on Monday evening, killing at least 12 people.
The defence ministry said 204 people were in hospital, 26 of them in a serious condition, after the rush-hour blast at one of Minsk's busiest underground rail junctions close to the presidential headquarters.
President Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic leader who has led the ex-Soviet country since 1994, said on Monday night the explosion was an attempt to destabilize the country.
Authorities did not say who was behind the explosion - a rare act of wanton violence in the tightly policed country.
The explosive device, which had been packed with metal balls and had a strength equivalent to 5-7 kgs of TNT, was apparently left under a platform bench. About 300 people were on the spot when it exploded as a train came into the station, Interior Minister Anatoily Kuleshov said.
Lukashenko, who is at odds with the West over his authoritarian rule, linked the explosion to a previous unsolved blast in 2008, saying: "I do not rule out that this was a gift from abroad."
"These are perhaps links in a single chain," he said, referring to a blast in July 2008 when a home-made bomb wounded about 50 people at an open air concert he was attending. The 2008 crime was never solved.
Belarus's state security service put the death toll at 12 after the death of one injured person overnight. Wednesday was declared an official day of mourning.
The metro blast occurred as Belarus struggles with a damaging run on foreign currency which has prompted panic-buying.
Central Bank foreign currency reserves are at their lowest in two years and there is no new credit deal with the International Monetary Fund in sight.
"UNDERMINING STABILITY"
Lukashenko vowed on Monday to turn the country "inside-out" to find those responsible for the attack.
Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term in December led to street protests that were broken up by police.
Belarus shares borders with EU members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, and with Russia and Ukraine.
One opposition figure said he feared Lukashenko would use the blast to crack down even more harshly on political rivals.
"Prosecutors qualify this as a terrorist act," a source in Lukashenko's administration told Reuters.
A former state-farm boss, Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist, jailing opponents and muzzling independent media while offering generous welfare and pensions to his citizens on the back of Russian subsidies.
FLOWERS AND CANDLES
Monday's blast took place at around 6 p.m. at the Oktyabrskaya metro station - Minsk's busiest - about 100 metres (yards) from Lukashenko's main headquarters.
On Tuesday there was a reduced service running on Minsk's metro network and a heavy police presence at many stations.
People placed flowers and candles at the entry to Oktyabrskaya station in memory of the dead.
"I have a feeling of sadness and painful anger. This should not have happened to us. We are not the sort of country where this sort of thing happens," said Valentin Lepen, aged 70.
"My first feeling was fear and a sense of vulnerability because none of us are safe against this sort of thing," said Yuri Elensky.
"We are in shock. Nobody thought that anything like this could happen in Minsk, anywhere but here," said Natalya, 28.
The EU and the United States have imposed a travel ban on Lukashenko and his closest associates because of the Dec. 19 crackdown. He has said the opposition rally was an attempted coup financed by the West.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitors said the vote count was flawed and criticized police for being heavy-handed. The remarks angered Minsk, which forced the OSCE to close down its office there.
In typical combative style, Lukashenko hit back, defending the police, dismissing members of the opposition as being bent on "banditry" and denouncing the OSCE verdict as "amoral".
"Regardless of who organized and ordered the blast, the government will be tempted to use it as an excuse to tighten the screws... I am afraid they will use it," said Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the opposition United Civic Party.
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