NYC activates security plan after Moscow bombings

(Reuters) - New York police doubled patrols of the subway system and sent a battery of police cars to transit hubs as a precaution on Monday following the Moscow subway bombings.

In Washington, police sent bomb-sniffing dogs to random Metro stations and rail yards as part of heightened security associated with the Moscow attacks, in which two female suicide bombers killed at least 38 people on packed metro trains during rush hour on Monday.

Though the Moscow bombings appear related to the conflict in the North Caucasus and New York's greatest threat is seen as coming from al Qaeda, police enacted the same security detail that they roll out after any attack elsewhere in the world.

This time it closely follows one man's admission he was plotting a suicide bombing of New York subways with al Qaeda training.

"We don't have any information suggesting that it's related (to al Qaeda) but as a precaution we are increasing coverage," police spokesman and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The city's fleet of "critical response vehicles" that guard sensitive locations were sent to mass transit hubs such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station, Browne said.

Officers patrolling the subways overnight were kept on duty as the morning shift reported, practically doubling the number of officers.

Reuters