(Fox News) – Russian investigators have identified a 22-year old Kyrgyz-born man as the suicide bomber in Monday’s blast on the St. Petersburg subway.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that they believe Akbardzhon Dzhalilov set off a bomb on a train that killed 14 people and wounded dozens. It was unclear if the figure of 14 included the bomber.
The investigators also said that forensic experts found Dzhalilov’s DNA on a bag containing a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday.
The Interfax news agency said authorities believe the suspect was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.
There were two bombs planted at the subway; only one exploded. Both bombs were filled with shrapnel, Sky News reported. The unexploded device was rigged with up to 2.2 pounds of explosives, Russian media reported.
The entire St. Petersburg subway system was shut down and evacuated, but partial service resumed after about six hours.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said investigators were looking into all possible causes. President Trump called it “absolutely a terrible thing,” adding, “it’s happening all over the world.” Putin was visiting the city at the time, the second-biggest in Russia and his hometown.
Late Monday, the White House said Trump called Putin to express his condolences for the bombing and to offer the full support of the United States “in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice.”
St. Petersburg, like Moscow, is home to a large diaspora of Central Asian migrants who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia. While most Central Asian migrants in Russia have work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.
Russian authorities have rejected calls to impose visas on Central Asian nationals, hinting that having millions of jobless men across the border from Russia would be a bigger security threat.
