Tuzer

St Petersburg metro explosion suspect 'from Central Asia'



The man suspected of killing 11 people in a St Petersburg train is in his early 20s and from Central Asia, Russian media report.

At least 45 people were also injured in the explosion between two underground stations on Monday afternoon.

An explosive device was later found and made safe at another station nearby.
The Interfax and Tass news agencies said the suspect had been identified, but there are conflicting reports as to whether he was a suicide bomber.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a Facebook post earlier that the explosion was a "terrorist attack".

An anti-terror investigation has been opened, but other possible causes are being investigated.

What happened?
The first images posted on social media showed a train at a platform in Tekhnologichesky Institut station with a hole blown in its side, along with a number of casualties.
Initial reports suggested there had been two explosions, one each at Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.

But the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee later confirmed there had been only one explosion, between the two stations, at about 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

St Petersburg metro explosion: In pictures

Tributes are paid after an explosion killed up to 10 people on an underground train in St Petersburg.







[img] https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/123.jpg[/img]


[s]PHOTO OF THE SUSPECT AND D BOMB[/s]



The man has since handed himself into police to declare his innocence
A bearded “suspect” earlier identified by Russian media has since handed himself in and declared his innocence.
He was this evening pictured at a police station after being wrongly identified as the bomber.
Local media reported: “The first suspect himself came to the police and said that he was innocent.
“Apparently, surveillance cameras found the ‘perfect Muslim’ and tossed it into the media.”
Russian authorities are now trying to piece together what happened on St Peterburg’s metro network.

Images of a second suspect have begun circling on social media, but police have yet to confirm these reports.

A police source told Interfax that a Islamist with links to banned groups was behind a suicide attack.

Remains found at the scene are thought to mirror those commonly seen in suicide attacks and forensic teams are now scrambling to back up the theory with DNA evidence.