St Petersburg Metro explosion: Suspect named as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen after at least 11 killed by underground blast

The likely suspect in the deadly blast in the Russian city of St Petersburg is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, Kyrgyzstan’s security service said on Tuesday morning.

A spokesman for the GKNB security service identified the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, born in the city of Osh in 1995. He provided no other details.

Russian authorities said they were investigating a suspected suicide bombing on Monday after a blast on the Saint Petersburg subway system killed 11 people and wounded dozens.

The blast, which struck a crowded metro train near the historic city centre at 2:20 local time, and came as Vladimir Putin was visiting the city. Shortly afterwards a larger, unexploded device was reported to have been found at one of the city’s busiest metro stations, prompting authorities to close the entire underground transport system. Search warrants were issued for two people. 

Security sources told the Interfax news agency that the device was “homemade” with a blast equivalent to 200g of TNT.  

Initial reports said the device appeared to have been packed full of shrapnel including metal nuts and bolts to cause maximum damage and had been left in the carriage in a back pack by the attacker, investigators said.

Later on Monday, investigators said they believed the attack had been the work of a suicide bomber, and said the perpetrator was suspected to be a 23-year-old from a Central Asian country. 

A second bomb, disguised as a fire extinguisher, was late reported to have been found at the Ploshchad Vosstanaya metro station, which serves the mainline railway station that connects St Petersburg with Moscow.  The device, which apparently failed to explode, was reported to contain about 1 kilogram of TNT equivalent, prompting speculation that it was intended as the “main” attack

A bearded man who appeared on CCTV footage and who Russian television stations initially claimed was the suspected attacker turned himself into the police, saying he was innocent, after seeing himself on television. Interfax news agency reported that the man has since been eliminated from inquiries.

Interfax reported that police now think the same suspect, not a second suspect, planted a bomb at a subway station that was found and defused before it went off.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.