Eleven people were killed and dozens more injured in a suicide bombing inside the St. Petersburg metro station today, while Russian authorities said another bomb had been defused at a different subway station.
Sources close to the Russian security services said that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who came from Central Asia and was allegedly associated with radical Islamists, Interfax news agency reported.
According to one of these sources, the authorities have verified the identity of the 23-year-old suicide bomber.
According to Reuters, a man who had been recorded by the CCTV cameras at the metro station and allegedly played a role voluntarily came to the authorities and confirmed that he was not involved in the attack, Interfax also reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went to the subway station where the attack took place and laid flowers in memory of the victims, Russian news agencies reported. Earlier, Putin chaired an emergency meeting of security services in St. Petersburg.
The attack came shortly after Islamic State (IS) called for attacks in Russia over its intervention in support of Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria in late September 2015.
In the latest report of the attack, which was published a while ago, the anti-terrorist service speaks of 11 dead and 45 wounded who have been admitted to hospitals.
Earlier, Health Minister Veronika Skvartsova spoke on Russian public television about ten deaths: seven people were killed on the spot, one in an ambulance and two in the hospitals where they were treated.
Source: Newsbeast