Russia subway blast that killed 13 a ‘suicide attack’

ASUICIDE bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St Petersburg subway that killed 13 people, Russian investigators have said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia’s second biggest and Mr Putin’s hometown.

Russia’s health minister said the death toll yesterday stood at 14, including the bomber. The nation’s top investigative agency said 10 of the dead have been identified.

Another 49 victims were in hospital, some of them in a grave condition.

St Petersburg city hall said there were several foreign nationals among those killed and injured. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens had been killed in the attack.

Although police originally were seeking two people as possible suspects in the hours after the attack, Russian investigators said it was the work of a suicide bomber. They identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts also found the man’s DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed the man’s identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency on Monday said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

Residents have been bringing flowers to the stations near where the blast occurred. Every corner at the ornate, Soviet-built Sennaya Square station on Tuesday was covered with red and white carnations.

The entire subway system in St Petersburg, a city of five million, was shut down and evacuated before partial service resumed six hours later. Typically crowded during the rush hour, the subway yesterday looked almost deserted as many residents opted for buses.

Monday’s explosion occurred as the train travelled between stations on one of the city’s north-south lines. The driver appeared in front of reporters on Tuesday looking tired but not visibly shaken by the events of the previous day.

Separately, in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, two police officers were killed in the early hours of yesterday in a suspected Islamic militant attack.

Alexander Zhilkin, governor of the region, said the attackers were on the run.