St. Petersburg subway blast was suicide attack, officials say

A Moscow resident looks at a news report with a photograph of Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who is a suspect in the subway blast. A Moscow resident looks at a news report with a photograph of Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen, Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who is a suspect in the subway blast. Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close St. Petersburg subway blast was suicide attack, officials say 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — A 22-year-old suicide bomber born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan was behind a blast on the St. Petersburg subway that killed 13 other people, Russian investigators said Tuesday.

No claim of responsibility has been made for the Monday afternoon attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, Russia’s second-biggest and Putin’s hometown.

Russia’s health minister said the death toll as of Tuesday stood at 14, including the bomber. The nation’s top investigative agency said that 10 of the dead have been identified and that genetic tests would be required to identify the rest.

Another 49 victims were hospitalized, some of them in grave condition.

St. Petersburg City Hall said several foreign nationals were among those killed and injured, but would not provide details. The foreign ministry of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan said one of its citizens was killed in the attack.

Although police originally were seeking two people as possible suspects in the hours after the attack, Russian investigators said Tuesday that it was the work of a suicide bomber. They identified him as Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, who turned 22 two days before the attack.

The Investigative Committee said that forensic experts found Dzhalilov’s DNA on the bag with a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday. In Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security confirmed his identity and said it would help the Russian probe.

The Interfax news agency reported Monday that authorities think the bomber was linked to radical Islamic groups and carried the explosive device onto the train in a backpack.

St. Petersburg is home to a large diaspora of people from Kyrgyzstan and other ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, who flee poverty and unemployment in their home countries for jobs in Russia.

While most Central Asian migrants in Russia hold temporary work permits or work illegally, thousands of them have received Russian citizenship in the past decades.

The subway system in St. Petersburg, a city of 5 million that typically is crowded during peak commute hours, looked almost deserted on Tuesday as many residents opted for buses.

Irina Titova and Nataliya Vasilyeva are Associated Press writers.