Reports have now confirmed that the St Petersburg metro bombing is an act of terror and that the suicide bomber may have been a Russian bomber of Kyrgyz origin. The blast, the result of a high intensity bomb, killed 11 people and wounded 45 more. There was, however, no claims of responsibility.
Russian news agency Interfax has stated that these radical elements may have been the result of Islamic State influence. Although no one has claimed responsibility as of now, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz GKNB (the equivalent of its internal security service)today identified the suspect as one Akbarzhon Jalilov. The suspect was said to have been born in Osh in 1995. No other details were immediately forthcoming.
President Vladimir Putin today indicated that he was not ruling out the angle of terrorism in the incident. He was in the city a short while before the bomb was detonated. There was a second device which was also defused. However, many experts have suggested that a second bomber may also have been involved in what is being seen as a lone wolf attack.
St Petersburg is on of the largest cities in the country and certainly one of the most important. It used to be the Czarist capital before the October Revolution in 1917. An attack in such a city will surely raise eyebrows and bring the country to global limelight over terrorism. St Petersburg is also home to 5 million residents, many of whom use the metro services. The entire subway services had been shut down on Monday after the attacks.
Kyrgyzstan was one of the most important states in the Soviet Union and continues to be an important ally of the Russian state. The state is home to six million and is politically, economically, and strategically important. Many observers think that the attack may flare tempers in Moscow.
