Moscow – A bomb exploded on an underground train in central St Petersburg on Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens, in what Russian officials have called a terrorist attack.
Russian authorities announced a search for two people believed to have been involved in the bombing, the Interfax news agency reported.
One suspect is believed to have placed a bomb under a seat on the train, which exploded while it was travelling between stations, while the other allegedly planted a bomb that remained undetonated at a nearby station.
Authorities in Russia’s second-largest city believe a homemade bomb containing shrapnel caused the blast.
One of the two suspects is believed to be a 23-year-old man from Central Asia with Islamist ties, state media reported.
The TASS news agency reported that a man and a young woman from Central Asia were possibly involved in the attack.
Interfax also reported a theory being investigated “in which the bomb was worn by a suicide attacker.” Footage from the scene showed shattered windows and train doors that had been ripped open by the blast.
The blast site at a metro station in St Petersburg, Russia. A suspected bomb detonated on a metro train in St Petersburg on Monday, killing at least 10 people. Photo: Xinhua/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire/dpa
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee increased an earlier government death toll late Monday by one, to a total of 11 killed, TASS reported.
Some 45 people were injured, the committee said. The prosecutor general’s office condemned the blast as a terrorist attack.
It struck at around 2:40 pm (1240 GMT) while the train was travelling between the central stations of Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut.
Security camera footage showed a suspect with a long beard and dark clothing.
All underground stations in the city were closed in the immediate aftermath of the blasts, although the network was partially reopened later. About 3 million people use the St Petersburg underground every day.
Security was increased at transport hubs across the country in the wake of the attack.
President Vladimir Putin had been visiting the city, his hometown, for talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko when the blast happened.
He offered his condolences to the victims’ families, and convened a meeting with senior law enforcement officials to discuss the attack, state media reported.
Putin later went to the scene of the blast to lay flowers in memory of those killed.
Condolences also began to arrive from leaders abroad.
US President Donald Trump denounced the attack as a “terrible thing.”
“Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about the attack.
“Those responsible for this appalling act must be held accountable,” said a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“I am shocked and saddened by the news of the attacks in the metro in St Petersburg … Nothing can justify such barbaric acts.” EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Trains have been the target of attacks in the past in Russia.
In 2010, a pair of suicide bombings claimed by an Islamic separatist group on the Moscow underground killed at least 40 people.
A year earlier, that same separatist group, Caucasus Emirate, claimed it was the perpetrator of a bombing of a high-speed train en route from Moscow to St Petersburg, which killed at least 27 people.
-dpa
