Eight held over Russia metro blast
Investigation steps up as first of the 13 victims laid to rest
ST PETERSBURG // Russian investigators yesterday detained eight suspects linked to St Petersburg metro bombing, as the country held commemorative rallies to honour the 13 victims.
“Six people were detained in Saint Petersburg and two in Moscow who are involved in the act of terror” following an investigation and search operation, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
During the searches, investigators discovered an explosive device “identical” to the one found at a St Petersburg metro station that was discovered shortly before the deadly blast in a metro tunnel on Monday. Firearms and ammunition were also found at the suspects’ residences, the committee said.
Investigators said the raids targeted “several citizens of central Asian republics, who had been in contact” with 22-year-old Akbarjon Djalilov, thought to be a Russian national born in Kyrgyzstan.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
Djalilov’s remains were found at the blast site and traces of his DNA were also discovered on a bag containing a bomb at another metro station that was defused, investigators said. Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin has ordered officials to look into any possible links between the alleged attackerand ISIL.
Extremists from ISIL – including foreign fighters from the ex-Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus region – have threatened an attack on Russian soil in revenge for Moscow’s military backing of Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad.
And in a sign of a city on edge, the FSB security service said it had found and defused a homemade explosive device during a search in a St Petersburg apartment block. The authorities have not linked the discovery to Monday’s bombing.
As investigation into the attack continued, relatives and friends geared up to bury the victims as the country held a third day of official mourning.
The first set to be laid to rest was 50-year-old doll maker Irina Medyantseva, with mourners gathering in a town outside St Petersburg for her funeral.
The attack has rattled the port city just two months before it hosts the opening game of the Confederations Cup football tournament, a curtain raiser for the World Cup in the country next year.
Russia suffered a wave of attacks in the 1990s and 2000s blamed mainly on a rebellion in Chechnya that morphed from a separatist uprising into an extremist insurgency.
The country’s transport network – including the metro in Moscow – was hit repeatedly by bombers leaving scores dead.
But there had been no attacks against a major city since blasts in the southern city of Volgograd in December 2013, weeks ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
ISIL, however, has struck at Russia abroad, claiming a bomb attack in October 2015 that blew a passenger jet packed with holidaymakers returning to St Petersburg out of the air over Egypt, killing all 224 people onboard.