Moscow – A man suspected of organizing the deadly underground train bombing in central St Petersburg has been detained in a suburb of Moscow, Russian authorities said Monday.
The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Abror Azimov, an ethnic Central Asian, was found in possession of a handgun in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, the Federal Security Service (FSB), a successor agency of the Soviet KGB, said in a statement carried by state media.
Authorities believe Azimov helped train the alleged suicide bomber, Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22, a Russian citizen born in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. Authorities believe Jalilov was radicalized by Islamic extremists.
Several other ethnic Central Asians have been detained in St Petersburg and Moscow on allegations of being complicit in the bombing, which killed more than a dozen people.
The bombing, considered the deadliest terrorist attack in Russia’s second-largest city, occurred earlier this month as the train was travelling between stations.
St Petersburg and Moscow have sizeable populations of migrant workers from former Soviet republics in Central Asia who come seeking economic opportunities.
-dpa
