Kazakhstan jointly probes St. Petersburg metro blast with Russia

    Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (NSC) is working with the Russian Federal Security Service to investigate the deadly St. Petersburg metro explosions, the NSC deputy chair said Tuesday.
    “We have been actively involved in the work since receiving the message on the act of terrorism. Colleagues from the FSB got in touch a couple of hours later,” NSC Deputy Chairman Maj. Gen. Nurgaly Bilisbekov said, Sputnik reported.
    Bilisbekov said the NSC, FSB and “the special services of neighboring states are looking into versions of the involvement of one Russian citizen and a native of Central Asia, not Kazakhstan.”
    An explosion on Monday afternoon between two central St. Petersburg metro stations killed at least 11 and wounded 45, according to Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK).
    Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation into a suspected terrorist attack.
    “Today we continue intensive exchange of information,” Bilisbekov said, adding that more details on the perpetrators of the act would be provided to the press “in the next few hours.”
    Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (NSC) and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) together prevented a number of terrorist attacks in Russia in 2016, NSC Deputy Chairman Maj. Gen. Nurgaly Bilisbekov said on Tuesday.
    "Together with our colleagues from the FSB we have prevented three terrorist attacks on Russian territory, according to my information. In Moscow, it could take place during May holidays at Schelkovskoe highway, we worked together. Apart from that, early in the year we prevented attacks in Russian central regions, the security operation was based on our operative information, we worked together. And at the end of the year we prevented another attack," Bilisbekov said at the government meeting.
    Bilisbekov added that Kazakhstan and Russia were working together to investigate the deadly St. Petersburg metro explosion that took place on Monday.
    The St. Petersburg explosion occurred in a subway train car, on the stretch between the two central stations at about 3 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT), killing at least 11 and injuring 45, according to Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK).
    A Russian citizen of Central Asian origin is suspected of being behind the deadly blast in Russia's St. Petersburg, a senior Kazakh security official said on Tuesday, adding that the suspect was not from Kazakhstan.
    Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB) is working together with Russian security services and exchanging information on the investigation, KNB deputy chairman Nurgali Bilisbekov told a government meeting.
    Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the death of Kazakh citizen Maksim Aryshev in terror attack in Saint Petersburg, Kazinform reports.
    "We regret to inform that according to the adjusted data from Russian Investigative Committee the earlier missing Kazakh national Maksim Aryshev died in consequence of terror attack in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. It is a huge tragedy for all of us", the Ministry reports.
    According to Kazakh MFA, the body of Maksim Aryshev is presently in the Catherine hospital of Saint Petersburg and his parents have already identified him.
    "After family's first call regarding disappearance of M. Aryshev Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Consulate General in Saint Petersburg took urgent measures to find out possible location of our citizen", the MFA informed.
    It is noted that Kazakh Foreign Ministry and diplomats in St. Petersburg will render maximum assistance and help to the family of Maksim Aryshev including taking his body back to homeland.
    The Ministry expresses its deep condolences to the family and friends of Maksim and all victims of this inhuman crime.
    On April 3, explosion of unknown item occurred in the train carriage between subway stations "Technology Institute" and "Sennaya Ploshchad". 11 people were killed and another 45 injured. Later 3 more people died.
    The Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev has sent telegram of condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    As was apparent later, the deadly blast left a Kazakh national missing. It was Maksim Aryshev, a third-year student of Saint Petersburg State University of Economics.
    Russia’s Investigative Committee has named the man who detonated the bomb on a St. Petersburg metro train on Monday afternoon. The man's name is Akbardjon Djalilov, he was born in 1995, IC spokesman Svetlana Petrenko said.
    A person who carried out an explosion in the St. Petersburg subway left a bomb at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station, Petrenko has confirmed.
    "Preliminary analysis has shown that the explosive was placed in a fire extinguisher and was filled with striking elements in the form of small metal balls and nuts like the exploded bomb. It was expected to be triggered by a mobile phone rather than by a timing mechanism," a source told TASS earlier.
    "This is why mobile phone communication was switched off. Soon after that, the explosive with a blast equivalent to 1 kg of TNT was defused", the source added.
    Specialists continue to study the exploded bomb and the remains of a suspected suicide bomber, the source said.
    The detonated bomb was similar by its filling to the explosive device defused at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya subway station and had the same striking elements. It has been reported earlier that the suspect was a Central Asian who had ties with Syrian militants.
    "He was in the train’s third carriage near the doors, judging by the damage to the wagon. When the train started moving, an explosive device with a power equivalent to 200-300g of TNT was detonated. The blast wave actually smashed the wagon’s door but the train driver who was acting strictly under operational instructions did not stop the movement and drove to the next station. Several bodies were found in the tunnel as they were blown out of the train," a source told TASS.
    DNA testing will be required to identify four of the victims of the terrorist attack, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.
    The Committee published a list of the victims at its website. Identities of ten people have been established to date.
    Kyrgyzstan is offering all-round assistance to Russia in probing into the terror attack on St. Petersburg’s metro, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
    The ministry also said that Akabrzhon Dzhalilov, who is suspected of committing this terror attack, is not a Kyrgyz national. Dzhalilov "has never received a Kyrgyz passport," according to the ministry. "In 2011, when he turned 16, he received a Russian passport and has been living in Russia ever since," the ministry said.
    Security checks at the St. Petersburg metro are conducted on a regular basis, city governor Georgy Poltavchenko told reporters on Tuesday.
    "Security checks are conducted on a regular basis. The investigation will show whether the security systems were efficient or not," he said.
    The death toll in the blast that rocked the St. Petersburg subway has reached 14, according to Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
    "Today, we can verify the death of 14 people: eleven at the scene and three others died in an agonizing condition, one of them at the stage of transportation in the ambulance and two others - at a reception area of Mariinsky Hospital of injuries incompatible with life," she told reporters.
    According to the minister, 49 people remain in hospitals now. "Thirteen have been released [from hospitals]. All patients are examined by the best specialists every day and are provided with medicine and blood," Skvortsova added.
    All those affected by the Monday blast have been identified by now, the director of the I.I. Dzhanelidze Ambulance Research Institute Valery Parfyonov has noted.
    Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said that a number of patients had remained in a state of coma since Monday.
    "On Tuesday morning the comatose patients have come to their senses and named themselves. One woman patient is in a medically induced coma, which makes it easier for her brain to cope with pain," Skvortsova said.
    Monday afternoon’s blast hit three foreigners and guests from 17 Russia's regions, according to the city's Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.
    Reported by Sputniknews, Reuters, Tass, Kazinform.