St Petersburg metro bomber named as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov

vladimir putin st petersburg — Russian president Vladimir Putin puts flowers down outside Tekhnologicheskiy Institut metro station in St Petersburg, Russia, April 3, 2017. Reuters/Grigory Duko

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security has named the person responsible for the St Petersburg metro bombing as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. The suspect is a Kyrgyz-born Russian national who is in his early 20s. However, the authority did not provide clear information about Dzhalilov's role in the attack.

Russia's Interfax news agency reports that the suspect had links to extremism. However, there were no groups claiming their responsibility for the attack. The suspect's picture was not yet officially published. The pictures currently circulating are still unconfirmed.

Initial update: St Petersburg bomb attack

On Monday, a train carriage exploded between Sennaya Ploshchad and the Tekhnologichesky Institut metro stations. Ambulances and fire engines responded to the accident scene along with a helicopter that rescued a wounded passenger.

A resident who witnessed the bombing said that a crowd was making its way to the escalators. The resident said that many people were crying while some have blood on their faces. The statement of the witness was supported by a video from the scene showing people lying bleeding on a platform. The video shows some people screaming while some are holding their hands to their faces. Many people suffered from glass shards and metal lacerations.

Bomb attack theories

Interfax news agency cited a law enforcement saying that the St Petersburg Metro bombing was carried out by a suspected Islamic suicide bomber. According to the news agency, the bomber came from Central Asia and in his early 20s. Government officials have not yet confirmed the report but they treated the bombing as an act of terrorism.

The Moscow Times managing editor Oliver Carroll said that there will be many theories related to the bombings including conspiracy theories. He cited the bombings that happened in 1999 that coincided with Putin's rise and his attempts to become a president. The mentioned events have raised a number of concerns and suspicions that could be related to another working theory.

Sky News diplomatic editor Dominic Waghorn said that the explosion could be used in further restrictions on protest groups. Waghorn cited their Russian correspondent John Sparks comment about Russia's belief that the bombing was a terrorist attack. According to Sparks, if the country's officials believed that the terrorist was responsible for the attack, then the full apparatus of the state is going to come to bear on investigating it. He pointed out that the officials would highly likely use the situation for dealing with the unrest happening in the country.