Russian investigators suspect a radical Islamist immigrant from Kyrgyzstan detonated the explosive in a St. Petersburg subway car Monday, killing 14 in the worst terrorist attack in a major Russian city in years, Interfax reported.
The likely suicide bomber was a Russian citizen born in the central Asian republic, said a spokesman for the Kyrgyz government’s Committee For National Security, adding that his agency is working with Russian officials on the probe. Interfax quoted the agency as identifying the suspected bomber as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, born in 1995, from the city of Osh.
Investigators suspect he was linked to radical Islamist groups and carried his improvised device in a backpack. Remains of the bomber are now being subjected to DNA testing, Interfax said, citing unnamed law-enforcement officials. A second device was found at another station and defused Monday and police were seeking a second suspect. Officials in Kazakhstan said they were cooperating with Russian authorities in the probe, although it wasn’t clear if there was an additional suspect from that country.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed that the suicide bomber had been identified, but said it wasn’t make his name public. There’s been no claim of responsibility.
Eleven people were killed immediately in the blast and three more died later from their injuries, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said, adding that 49 remain hospitalized. The bomb detonated inside the train as it traveled between two major hub stations in the center of the city.
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President Vladimir Putin, who was in Russia’s second-largest city at the time of the attack, visited the Federal Security Service’s St. Petersburg branch to be briefed by officials and later laid flowers at the site of the explosion. Security was tightened across the city of 5 million people, as well as in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the timing of the attack during Putin’s visit “makes one think” and was a matter of concern to authorities. “Not one country in the world is immune from terrorist acts, unfortunately, but that absolutely doesn’t mean that anyone is going to reduce the struggle with this ugly evil,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump, asked about the blast by reporters in Washington, called it a “terrible, terrible thing -- happening all over the world.” In a call with Putin, Trump “offered the full support of the United States government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice,” according to a White House statement. The leaders agreed that “terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated.” Peskov said Russia may accept U.S. assistance if it proved necessary.
Russia’s two biggest cities haven’t suffered a major attack in more than six years. The Kremlin tightened security after hundreds were killed by terrorist strikes in the early 2000s that were later claimed mostly by Chechen separatists. Since Putin sent forces into Syria in 2015, Islamic State has threatened to strike at Russia, taking responsibility for the downing of a plane carrying Russian tourists from Egypt to St. Petersburg, which left 224 dead.
In the southern city of Astrakhan, two traffic policemen were killed early Tuesday by attackers the local governor identified as “radical Islamists.” The suspects escaped, according to authorities.
Some political analysts said the Kremlin may seek to use Monday’s bombing, as it has with some previous terrorist attacks, to further crack down on opponents, particularly after the biggest anti-Kremlin protests in several years swept major cities on March 26. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, some commentators on state television sought to link the blast with the organizers of opposition rallies. But within hours, the line changed to a more benign one of criticism of any effort to blame authorities for failing to prevent the attack.
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