St Petersburg attack staged by Kyrgyz suicide bomber

PanARMENIAN.Net - The man suspected of killing 11 people by bombing a St Petersburg train is a native of Kyrgyzstan who obtained Russian citizenship, the Central Asian country's security service says, BBC News reports.

Forty-nine people were injured in the explosion between two underground stations on Monday, April 3 afternoon.

The Kyrgyz security service named the bomber as Akbarzhon Jalilov, who it said was born in Osh in 1995.

There are conflicting reports as to whether he was a suicide bomber.

Kyrgyz state media said the country's security service was "maintaining contact with the Russian secret service for further investigation".

Authorities in St Petersburg have declared three days of mourning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in St Petersburg - his home city - when the blast occurred, visited the scene on Monday evening and laid flowers at a makeshift shrine.

Russian investigators have given few details. No group has said it was responsible.

World leaders rallied behind Russia in condemning the blast.

The White House said President Donald Trump had spoken to Mr Putin by phone and offered "full support" in bringing those responsible to justice.

"Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated," a statement said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the blast as a "barbaric act" and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Europe's thoughts were with the Russian people.