Saint Petersburg Metro Bombing (2017)
The Saint Petersburg Metro bombing on April 3, 2017, was a tragic event that resulted in the death of at least fourteen people and injuries to more than forty others. An explosive device was detonated on a subway train traveling between two stations in the city. The attack was suspected to be a terrorist act, linked to the broader context of ongoing threats from various extremist groups in Russia, including those affiliated with the Islamic State and other jihadist factions. Following the explosion, a second, larger bomb was discovered and successfully disarmed at a nearby station, suggesting that the incident could have been much more catastrophic.
The suspected bomber, Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen, was identified through security footage and DNA evidence. In the aftermath, authorities arrested eight individuals believed to be connected to extremist groups. Despite the apparent motivations and responses, no organization formally claimed responsibility for the attack, leaving the investigation complicated due to the diverse landscape of radical elements in the region. The event prompted a three-day mourning period in Saint Petersburg, highlighting the impact of the attack on the local community and the ongoing challenges of ensuring public safety amidst evolving threats.
Saint Petersburg Metro Bombing (2017)
Date: April 3, 2017
Place: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Summary
The Saint Petersburg, Russia, metro bombing of 2017 was a suspected terrorist attack in which an explosive device was detonated on a subway train traveling between stations in Saint Petersburg, killing at least fourteen and injuring more than forty.
Key Events
- March 29, 2010—Terrorists detonate a series of suicide bombs at two stations of the metro in Moscow, Russia, killing at least forty and injuring more than one hundred.
- April 3, 2017—A Kyrgyzstan-born man detonates an explosive device on the Saint Petersburg metro, killing at least fourteen and injuring dozens more.
- April 6, 2017—Russian police arrest eight suspects in connection with the metro bombing in Saint Petersburg.
Status
Debates about whether a specific terrorist organization had orchestrated the Saint Petersburg metro attack were ongoing months after the bombing, as no evidence had been found to directly link the bomber to any organization. Though supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), one of the suspected groups, reportedly shared celebratory photos of the bombing’s devastation online, no group officially claimed the attack. Due to Russia’s increased involvement in Syria and its support of the war-torn country’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, ISIS had made retaliatory threats against Russia, including the propaganda video released shortly after the downing of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268. Journalists additionally noted that there are also a number of other independent Islamic radical groups as well as those affiliated with al-Qaeda active in Russia. Furthermore, Russia has experienced threats and violence from rebel Islamist Chechens and other jihadists from the North Caucasus region who have sought to create an independent Islamic caliphate for several years. Given the complexity of terrorist threats in Russia, it is therefore difficult to connect the Saint Petersburg attack to any specific terrorist network.
In-Depth Overview
On March 29, 2010, a group of militants conducted suicide bombings at two separate stations of the metro system in Moscow, Russia. At the time, it was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to occur in Russia, resulting in more than forty deaths and one hundred injuries. In the wake of the attack, the Russian government enhanced security throughout the metro system, installing metal detectors and increasing funding for security personnel.
On April 3, 2017, around 2:30 p.m. local time, a bomb was detonated on the Saint Petersburg metro line, on a train traveling through a tunnel from Sennaya Ploshchad to the Tekhnologichesky Institut station in the center of the city. Investigators initially believed there had been two explosions, due to reports from the stations on either side of the tunnel. The train’s conductor made the decision to continue to the next station, rather than stopping in the tunnel at the time of the explosion, and later received widespread praise for the decision as it allowed passengers in damaged cars to evacuate the train safely. Immediately after the explosion, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee released a statement that an unidentified explosive device had been detonated in one of the train cars and that a second, larger explosive device had been discovered and disabled at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station, where it had been hidden in a fire extinguisher. The second explosive device discovered was larger than the one that detonated, reportedly containing as much as a kilogram of TNT. It was believed that the same bomber had planted this device before boarding the train at the second station and setting off an explosive in a presumed suicide attack. While initial reports indicated that eleven had been killed and more than forty injured, several victims died later, bringing the total number of casualties to at least fourteen.
The day after the attack, Russian authorities released the name of the suspected attacker, Akbarzhon Jalilov, a Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen, identified from security footage taken within the metro system as well as a DNA sample taken from the second explosive device at the Vosstaniya station. It was not immediately evident whether Jalilov had acted alone or not, but no terrorist organization officially claimed the attack. Saint Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko ordered that the city would observe a three-day mourning period, and police representatives claimed that several other individuals with possible connections to the incident were being pursued by police.
By April 11, it was reported that eight individuals, all reportedly connected to extremist cells, had been arrested in connection with the Saint Petersburg attack. Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), told reporters that six individuals were detained in Saint Petersburg and two in Moscow and that all of the suspects were from one of the former Soviet Central Asian republics. Bortnikov also reported that police had discovered large quantities of weapons and ammunition during the course of making their arrests in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Days later, a ninth man was arrested and questioned under the belief, according to investigators, that he may have been the mastermind behind the attack; later reports stated that the suspect claimed he had only been indirectly involved.
Key Figures
Akbarzhon Jalilov: Kyrgyzstan-born Russian man suspected of planting bombs on the Saint Petersburg metro system, killing and injuring dozens.
Georgy Poltavchenko: Governor of Saint Petersburg.
Bibliography
Clarke, C. P. (2017, April 4). Attacks on Russia will only increase. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/russia-st-petersburg-isis-syria/521766/
Lister, T., Burrows, E., & Dewan, A. (2017, April 3). St. Petersburg metro explosion: At least 11 dead in Russia blast. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/03/europe/st-petersburg-russia-explosion/index.html
Nechepurenko, I., & MacFarquhar, N. (2017, April 4). St. Petersburg bomber said to be man from Kyrgyzstan; Death toll rises. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/europe/st-petersburg-russia-explosion-suspect.html
Oliphant, R., & Boyle, D. (2017, April 4). St Petersburg metro explosion: Russian investigators believe suicide bomber caused blast that killed 14 as suspect named. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/03/saintpetersburg-bombing-casualties-explosion-metro-train/
Walker, S. (2017, April 3). St Petersburg metro explosion leaves 11 dead and dozens wounded. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/03/st-petersburg-metro-rocked-by-explosion-sennaya-ploshchad-station