REVEALED: Russian citizen behind St. Petersburg attack

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

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.

Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim Central Asian nation of six million, is Russia’s close political ally and hosts a Russian military airbase.

Monday’s blast on board a metro train in St. Petersburg killed 11 people and wounded 45.

Interfax, quoting security sources, reported that the suspect had links with radical Islamist groups banned in Russia.

The source added that remains found at the scene of the blast suggested that a suicide bomber was responsible but that final conclusions would be made after DNA tests had been conducted.

 

Source: The Cable