The Russian intelligence agency has named the man it suspects is responsible for Monday’s terror attack that killed 14 and wounded more than 40 as a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.
The 22-year-old, who has been named as Akbarzhon Jalilov, detonated a nail bomb on a train as it travelled between the stations of Sennaya Ploschad and Technologichesky Institute at 2:30pm local time on Monday.
The attack is thought to have been a suicide bombing, but officials have not confirmed whether Jalilov was among the dead, or if he escaped the blast.
Two hours after the bombing, Russia’s anti-terror agency discovered and deactivated a second bomb at Vosstaniya Square, a station that is a major transfer point for two Metro lines and also serves the rail line to Moscow.
That bomb, which was disguised as a fire extinguisher, was filled with shrapnel and was more than three times the size of the first explosive.
An unnamed law enforcement official told the Interfax news agency that the suspected bomber is believed to have left the larger bomb at Vosstaniya Square before blowing himself up on the subway.
Jalilov, who was born in the country’s second city of Osh, is believed to have links to radical Islamist groups.
The entire St Petersburg subway system was shut down and evacuated, but partial service resumed after about six hours.
In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of attack, usually blamed on Islamic militants.
In 2013 a suicide attack on a bus in Volgograd killed six people. Also, that year, 34 people died after twin bombings at Volgograd train station and on a bus in the city.
The White House has since said that President Donald Trump has offered “the full support of the US government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was among those to visit an improvised memorial near the entrance to the Technological Institute station on Monday evening.