Russian supermarket bomb suspect detained

MOSCOW: The perpetrator of the bomb attack which tore through a Saint Petersburg supermarket wounding 18 people was arrested yesterday, a Russian news agency reported.

“The organiser and direct perpetrator who triggered an improvised explosive device on Dec 27 in a supermarket in Saint Petersburg was arrested during a special operation by the FSB (Federal Security Service,” the FSB said, according to Interfax.

The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on Friday.

“The attack that targeted a shopping centre in Saint Petersburg the day before yesterday (Wednesday) was carried out by an Islamic State-linked group,” IS said in a statement via its propaganda agency, Amaq.

On Wednesday evening, a homemade bomb placed in a locker at the supermarket in Russia’s second city and President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, went off sowing panic among customers and wounding 14 people, including a pregnant woman.

Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the blast was caused by a “homemade explosive device with the power equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT filled with lethal fragments”.

Putin’s 2015 decision to intervene in Syria militarily on the side of Bashar al-Assad has made Russia a priority target for IS

The bombing came after the FSB security service said earlier this month that it had prevented a terror attack on a key Orthodox cathedral in Saint Petersburg with the help of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, which led Putin to thank US President Donald Trump.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov has said Russia remained on alert for a possible return of jihadists from Syria ahead of the World Cup and the March presidential polls. Saint Petersburg will host several World Cup matches, including a semi-final.

Earlier this month Bortnikov said at least 4,500 Russians had left the country to fight with terrorists in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions.

In July, the FSB said it had detained seven people who were preparing “acts of terror” in Saint Petersburg, particularly its railway system and major public gathering places.

Russia has fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, leading militants from the North Caucasus to frequently target Russians through suicide bombings and other attacks. Agencies