The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that they believe Akbardzhon Dzhalilov set off a bomb on a train that killed 14 people and wounded dozens.
ST. PETERSBURG (CBSNewYork/AP) — Russian investigators have identified a 22-year old Kyrgyz-born man as the suicide bomber in Monday’s blast on the St. Petersburg subway.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that they believe Akbardzhon Dzhalilov set off a bomb on a train that killed 14 people and wounded dozens. It was unclear if the figure of 14 included the bomber.
The investigators also said that forensic experts found Dzhalilov’s DNA on a bag containing a bomb that was found and deactivated at another subway station in St. Petersburg on Monday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin ways to boost anti-terrorism cooperation in the aftermath of the bombing.
The Kremlin on Tuesday published summaries of Putin’s phone calls with Merkel and Hollande as well as with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also called Putin on Tuesday to offer his condolences for the attack.
The Kremlin said Merkel, Hollande and Putin “stressed the need to intensify cooperation in order to counter terrorism which is a common threat for all nations” and agreed to improve intelligence sharing.
A Kremlin spokesman says intelligence agencies will look into the fact that the blast happened while Putin was in town.
Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the fact that Putin was in the city when the bomb went off, although several dozen miles away from where he was hosting talks, “makes one pause” and is “something for the intelligence agencies to analyze.”
Russian news agencies say the St. Petersburg subway stations shut down after a bomb threat have reopened. At least four stations were closed on Tuesday after a call about a possible bomb.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has assured MTA riders that the city’s trains are safe, telling New Yorkers they should always remember the city has one of the strongest counter-terror capacity of any police force in America, WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb reported.
De Blasio said people may see officers with long guns and dogs — something that should provide reassurance.
“The message is that we are prepared for any eventuality but again, this is shared responsibility, everybody has to take a look at whats going on around them, and if they see something that makes them uncomfortable, they need to make affirmative steps to make a call to 911, flag a cop, stop down a cop and let them properly investigate it,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said.
This isn’t the first time there’s been an explosion on Russia’s subway system. In 2010, 38 people were killed in Moscow when two female suicide bombers linked to Chechen rebels detonated devices on packed trains. Russia has been on high alert lately for terrorist activity involving Chechen Islamic extremists.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
