Russia names 22-year-old as metro bomber who killed 14
THE Kremlin has named the man believed to be behind the metro bombing in St Petersburg that killed 14 people.
Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22, a former sushi chef from Kyrgyzstan, is allegedly behind the massacre that also left around 50 people injured.
Releasing CCTV images yesterday of Jalilov, who is a Russian citizen, carrying a rucksack through the metro shortly before the blast, officials said they believed he had also planted a second device hidden in a fire extinguisher that failed to explode.
Body parts of the suspected Islamic extremist were found at the scene of the explosion between two metro stations on Monday, the Kremlin said.
As the death toll rose to 14, it was still unclear whether the bomber was acting alone. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but previous attacks on Russia have been blamed on Islamic State and Chechen rebels.
Victims of the blast included doll-maker Irina Medyantseva, 50, who threw herself over her daughter Yelena, 29, so saving her life.
Ali Matkarimov, a former friend of Jalilov’s, said the suspected suicide bomber was once a sushi maker and was ‘not even saying his prayers’ when the pair worked together in 2013. His comments prompted speculation that Jalilov had only recently been radicalised.
Naming Jalilov yesterday, Kyrgyzstan secret service spokesman Rakhat Sulaymanov said: ‘It was established that the suspect in this act of terror was born in our republic.’ Russia’s state investigative committee later confirmed Jalilov as the man behind the blast.