Russia detains organiser of blast in St Petersburg
treat politics as a game. Let us tomorrow vote for an election, let us put forward our plans for Brexit and our alternative programmes for government and then let the people decide.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn welcomed May’s announcement, while Nicola Sturgeon of the ruling Scottish National Party in Scotland called it an “extraordinary U-turn” after the prime minister had previously ruled out a mid-term election.
“She is clearly betting that the Tories can win a bigger majority in England given the utter disarray in the Labour Party…In terms of Scotland, this move is a huge political miscalculation by the prime minister,” Sturgeon said.
“It will once again give people the opportunity to reject the Tories’ narrow, divisive agenda, as well as reinforcing the democratic mandate which already exists for giving the people of Scotland a choice on their future,” she added.
May’s announcement sent Westminster in a tizzy, with some Labour MPs continuing to doubt whether the party can win under Corbyn’s leadership. But they hoped those who now regretted voting to leave the EU would get another opportunity, which would help Labour.
Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had detained a suspected organiser of last month’s bombing of the Saint Petersburg metro that killed 14 people and injured dozens more.
The FSB said it detained the man, identified as Abror Azimov, in the Odintsovo suburb of Moscow, describing him as “originally from Central Asia,” in a statement quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
The suspect has been taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, the FSB said.
The suspected suicide bomber has been named as 22-year- old Akbarjon Djalilov, who is thought to have been a Russian national born in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan.Azimov, who was born in 1990, “carried out training of the suicide bomber terrorist Djalilov,” the FSB said, calling him “one of the organisers.”
Djalilov is suspected of triggering a homemade explosive device while on a train in a metro tunnel. Security forces said they safely defused another device left on a platform. Eight were previously been detained in Moscow and Saint Petersburg over the bombing. AFP